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n7punk · 1 year

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Selling a Dream Fic Notes

Selling a Dream (SaD) is done! This one took me way longer (and was way bigger) than I expected, but it was lots of fun. I'm gonna miss these girls, I already do, but BOY is the fic long enough 😂

Epilogue Life:

Adora continues focusing on cosplay and traditional photoshoots for her career, taking on commissions as well sometimes (more on that later). With the reboot now on, and thus the studio focusing on their new iteration of the characters, Adora doesn't do any more official work with the studio (at least as a host), though she is invited to a few events as an influencer. Adora continues to use the original She-ra as her signature cosplay, though she does recreate the new She-ra outfit too and wears it occasionally, but the other one is beloved (by her and older fans), it's what she's known for, it's more revealing (read: gets better traction on Instagram), and also, you know, Adora looks like the original She-ra so she's a good match for the cosplay whereas another amazing cosplayer would be a better fit for reboot She-ra/Mara.

Adora has warmed up to professional modeling now it's something she chooses and sometimes she has a lot of fun doing it, but it can be a little hard on her self esteem depending on the director/requirements, so the part of her "job" (confluence of jobs, more like) that really makes her happy is being influencer/cosplayer - especially the cosplay part, and especially doing "casual" photoshoots with her friends/for Instagram where she doesn't have to be perfect or fit the vision of a stranger. Her commissions let her dip her toe into the prop business sometimes (if they involve props, anyway), though she has no desire to return to it full time.

When she and Catra move in together almost a year into their relationship, Adora officially joins Wildcat Workshop and starts coordinating her commissions through there. She works partially at home (mostly for sewing/basic cosplays), partially at the BFS workshop (also cosplay, especially with more advanced elements, and light propwork), and partially at the workshop. She still goes over to the BFS house (now just Glimmer and Bow's house technically, but they all decided before she even moved out that it would always be the BFS house, especially with Catra now included in the squad) to spend time together/work together (and use the laser cutter). She has also built up a good friendship with Scorpia, plus a closer one with Entrapta, so she has a really great place to work no matter where she goes or what she needs.

Sometimes Adora helps on projects (that aren't hers) at Wildcat Workshop, but an average day might see her and Catra waking up together, going into the shop for a bit, and then Adora heading over to BFS to work on cosplay with Glimmer and Bow while Catra continues her work. Or that order might be reversed, depending when Glimmer/Bow are going to be home. Come evening, Adora and Catra will head home together or go hang out with one of their friends.

Catra's career is only just beginning. Once she has worked on one show(/for one propmaster) it's a lot easier to get work on others and she ends up making a steady business between commissions and propwork. When season two of the reboot rolls around, they hire her again for a few more key pieces, and Adora has a greater hand in helping with the builds this time around now she is an official employee.

Catra ends up admitting she loves Melog after he stops eating one day and they find out he has an intestinal blockage when they take him to the vet. It turns out fine and they're able to clear it without surgery, but she decides he should live with her and Adora after that because they can monitor what he eats better there. He sometimes goes with Adora when she goes to the BFS workshop because he's easily bored, but he's also very willing to let somebody lead him around and thus is pretty easy to take places.

At Catra and Adora's place, they end up with an entire closet dedicated to costumes. Catra cosplays with Adora (and Entrapta) a bit more here and there, though she does it the same way she did it with Entrapta before now and doesn't do any in-character events or anything (even if she kind of plays along with Adora when she is acting in character herself).

As implied in the fic, Scorpia and Perfuma start flirting via text and very quickly fall into a relationship, which makes it a bit easier for her to warm up to Adora as she becomes a frequent face at the workshop. Entrapta, despite doing her damnedest otherwise, doesn't build or hack anything that gets her prison time. She is definitely on a list, though. Overall, Wildcat Workshop is successful and they're all able to find work that let's them stay and build together. At one point they discuss moving to a bigger space, but, well, this one is important, not just to them but to Entrapta long before they showed up, so they always just end up cleaning, rearranging things, and maybe downsizing or relocating unnecessary materials/equipment. All of them end up with extra materials stowed in their garages for when needed, though.

Playlist:

This fic didn't have a playlist, though I was listening to Fletcher's "Girl of my Dreams" album a lot for the first half of it. For the second half, it was a few songs on loop: "Uh Oh" by Tate McRae (CH6, 7), "Nonsense" by Sabrina Carpenter (CH8), and "Dressed To Kill" by the Wombats (CH8, 9).

Chapter 1:

I did not think the premise of this AU was specific/unusual until readers told me so, but in hindsight "Cosplay AU" isn't even a tag, so maybe I should have known that. I genuinely thought the cosplay creation process was common knowledge within fandom as a whole and not just cosplayers themselves. I knew some of the machine talk was specific, but I definitely underestimated things.

Adora's social media presence is split three ways, technically. Instagram (feed/posts): Photo shoots/photos of herself, both in cosplay and out of it (typical hot influencer shit), along with some workout posts and the occasional build video (she uses reels for those). She also does announcement posts (a con she is going to be at, an event she is going to be hosting, new prints dropping, etc) on there and her stories, but once they "aren't relevant" (like when a con has passed) she deletes them to keep it clean. She does a lot of thirst trap posting because she likes the validation, but it's also great for engagement. Instagram (stories): cosplay/sewing/builds and con "liveblogs". She saves all her costumes and con stories into playlists or whatever they're called so people can go back and look at the making process for one character or a particular con. Her main focus for her "career" is on her Instagram. It's the only place she has really monetized, with like sponsored posts on occasion and stuff (she also sells prints and posts when they're going up). Her Twitter is more "personal" where she just tweets about whatever, interacts with her friends more (at least publically, she's in her friends DMs and stuff on Insta), and generally feels less "pressure" even though she still has a lot of followers. She'll also livetweet cons on her twitter sometimes, and she has more nerd shit on there than on her insta.

Catra mostly posts photos and videos from around the shop (now that she has left the Horde, that mostly didn't fly when she was there) and of commissions/builds/personal projects. It's basically a portfolio page for the shop. She does some videos of builds, mostly timelaspes or focusing on one small part of the build because she can't give away all her secrets. Her stories lean more towards shop shenanigans, and she also shares her friend's posts there. If she does a cosplay shoot, it will end up there unless she really wants to show off the prop, and then it will make it to her main page. Her Twitter is a mix of more casual posts and photos of builds, but she wouldn't treat it as casually as Adora does hers just because it is still her business social media and she needs to seem put together, if not professional. Adora's business is being hot LOL.

I find it really disruptive to my immersion when another property is brought up in a fanfic. This includes mentioning it as a fictional thing, or "cameos" from other characters. I don't know why, but it really throws me off and that made using real characters for their cosplays an instant no. It's usually weird to me to have something else IRL be fictional within an already fictional universe, hence the main property for this fic... basically being the original property of the show.

Catra only got one of Adora's presents, but because Adora messaged her every birthday she knew she sent two. The first one she sent to their old apartment, where Catra was no longer living. Later that week, Catra posted a photo of her hanging out on the balcony of her new place with a caption about how much she liked having a balcony now, basically signalling to Adora that she had moved. Adora considered resending the present, but she didn't know if that would be creepy and tenacious, so she waited for the next year, this time sending it to the Horde workshop with Catra's name on it. Catra got that one.

Adora was a litol buzzed when she sent the New Years message, hence the spelling. Catra was too, and she almost replied to it.

They both changed their numbers after leaving the Horde; Catra immediately, and Adora like a month later after she got a flaming voicemail from her ex-boss upon him seeing she had secured a job that, a month ago, would have been the Horde's.

Like 50% of my knowledge for this fic was from Simone Gertz/Laura Kampf/Evan & Katelyn videos (all maker Youtubers), like 40% from the cosplayers and sewists I've followed over the years, and then like 10% Mythbusters.

Melog was a "new arrival", hence why Catra was reluctant to claim him yet. He was actually born in the shop shortly before they cleaned it up, and had slipped in and out of the area, but he was Extremely Cautious of them, so it took a few weeks for them to even notice A Cat in the area, and a few more for them to suspect it was the same cat living nearby, and then they slowly realized he wasn't just mousing in and around the shop when the garage was open, but that he was actually living there. And then there was the slow process of charming him, which was made easier by how long he had been hanging around. He was already accustomed to them, and fairly young/tameable, but he had only just been "tamed" when the fic started (Catra had been in her shop for six months total).

Adora's whole deal in this AU is based off a professional cosplayer I met when I was like, 12 at a con who I have NEVER been able to remember the name of, just that I think it started with a J.

Adora's username is a reference to an (I think) well known Adora cosplayer, whose feed partially served as inspiration/reference for this AU. I gave some of the characters more "generic"/professional handles since social media is important to their jobs, but it also just made coming up with usernames easier. I hate coming up with usernames even for myself.

Catra hung up so fast after Adora said she tries to show she respects her now because she realized she was right and she wasn't ready to deal with that.

I had a lot of fun thinking of what personal touches Catra's workspace would have, because every workshop I know of has some kooky shit from a goofy build, or a prototype that didn't work out or that they just don't want to throw away.

Chapter 2:

Between rereading an old fic and writing summaries for SW&D to match TOHT, I was kind of feeling writing chapter summaries again even though I know I used to hate writing them (and wow, it's still hard). Anyway, I decided to throw in some odd ones from the "perspective" of the cosplay for this fic to match the chapter titles.

I use the pleading emoji a lot, and I see it a lot, but like 1 out of 20 times I see it I want to pick it up in my hands and squeeze it until it pops so it stops looking at me like that. I can't explain it, but it feels like a very Catra instinct to me so I included it.

"If Catra was any of her other friends, she wouldn’t hesitate to tell her how hot she would look as Skeletor, but it’s Catra, so Adora can’t just say things like that no matter how badly she wants to." Mayhaps that is why Catra doesn't think you love her. You fucking idiot.

BannetCon was named after a guy named Bannet. He did some important things in the video game industry and then founded one of the first video game conventions on the West coast accidentally. It's been around for a long time.

The jacket I described for Catra is based on a real one (but like, taken up to 12, and that jacket already started at 11), but it was a one-of-a-kind piece that sold on Etsy so the best record of it now is random Pinterest posts.

"I'm not She-ra without [the lights]" Yeah it's Adora so she's still insecure XD She-ra/cosplay in general has been a big crutch for her interactions with the public (as is discussed in the next scene) and she was on the verge of a panic attack at the thought of having a dead or a damaged prop for the panel where she would be talking about cosplay in front of everyone. She did end up talking about the battery dying and other mishaps that happen at the panel and how you have to adapt on the fly with stuff like that and how a simple "casualwear" cosplay is always good to pack, but with the danger passed and the prop working, it was easy for her to talk about - because she had her crutch.

The panel Adora was on was called "Cosplay & Community".

While writing this chapter I had to shove Marlena's body back in the closet. It just flopped out I don't know what happened. In the process I made Adora autistic on accident.

Chapter 3:

Glimmer's paint job on the mannequin head looks like a bad knockoff of a Monster High doll. My dress form doesn't even have a head and I still throw a cloth over it to make it less creepy. The arms are detachable and one time my mom *screamed* when she was helping me move stuff and saw the hand hanging off the top shelf of a closet.

Adora's VHS set up doesn't actually take up a lot of room because she has a pretty small CRT TV and the player is right on top of it, with the boxset displayed there. She likes having it because if she is in A Mental Place™️ where she wants/needs to be watching She-ra, then she likes being able to just ball up in her room and not venture out to do it - both because it's more comfortable (physically and emotionally) and because she doesn't have to enter the living room and alert her housemates to her mood. Then they'd try to help.

I don't miss VHS because it was a pain, but also, I do have some Nostalgia I was working out.

Adora was 100% lying and scrambling when she said she wanted to send the thirst trap to Bow for Totally Normal Shoot Equipment Reasons.

Starla and Adora (like 95% of the viewers) both shipped She-ra and Teela so it made sense to go all in on a ship photoshoot, but also lowkey Starla was just like 👀 yeah I'll climb that. Her brother knows this, and loves her, so he put up with it.

Adora did pay for the sword, even though it didn't end up being ridiculously more than Clawdeen's material/time costs, partially because she believes in compensation, partially because she doesn't want to strain their friendship, and partially because Catra didn't exactly want a Clawdeen costume from her, especially not the way Adora wanted the sword. Catra didn't charge her full price, though, just something close to the difference between the costume and the sword's costs.

Some stuff about the She-ra show: I've only watched like, two episodes of Xena, so mostly I only have cultural knowledge about it and used it as a touch-point for the live-action take on a warrior princess. The She-ra show in-fic had some plot similarities with the original She-ra/He-man shows, kind of a fusion of the two shows with He-man elements in general (partially because this just made sense when half the She-ra characters were already in the fic as "real people" and partially because I wanted to play with them).

The overall villain was just "Prime", but certain seasons/arcs were focused on other villains. Skeletor was a servant of Prime that had shown up in earlier seasons and was then the big bad of season three and made minor comebacks here and there until season six when he had a prominent role alongside Prime again.

Season three was set in an entirely new location, the Crimson Waste, which had been referenced a number of times but never seen. It was also shot at a new location to give the appearance of a desert, the plot roughly being that Skeletor managed to kidnap Teela "between seasons" and brought her into the heart of the cursed desert where he thought She-ra could never survive as a being of light and love. She faced opposition from both Prime's minions, the harsh landscape filled with mutated creatures, and the criminals who had been banished there and survived, forming an outlaw society that Clawdeen was the self-declared queen of. She was an anti-hero figure for the season, but She-ra would not have been able to rescue Teela without her help in the end. She was a Huntara-like figure in the desert.

Season 3 was shorter by a few episodes than the other seasons, due to the whole "written around a pregnancy" thing. The show ran for 6 seasons with just over a 100 regular episodes, 2 special episodes (Christmas episode and a drug PSA episode because it was That Era) and two TV movies.

The second TV movie came two years after the show ended and introduced She-ra's long-lost brother He-man. It was wildly hated for fucking with (or outright contradicting) the lore so much and is generally regarded as a cashgrab for more toys. Teela had to be written out of it because her actress didn't even return for it, officially because she was focused on her family, but pretty much everyone knows she was very attached to the franchise and would have only wanted to be part of a good movie. She-ra's actress did return (there wouldn't have been a movie without her), but she was unfortunately closely associated with She-ra and having trouble finding any prominent roles because people just looked at her and saw She-ra (similar to what happened with George Reeves and Superman) so she kind of felt like she had to. Her worry turned out to be somewhat misplaced and she managed a fine acting career in supporting roles after that, but she was never a headliner again.

Most people consider the movie non-canon, Adora included. After all, it establishes that at some undisclosed point after the series ended, She-ra and Teela parted ways because She-ra went out seeking information about a family she knew to be dead and for some reason Teela just... stayed behind?? With the implication at the end of the movie being She-ra then goes on to have adventures with her brother now instead of the woman she loved for years? Yeah it was a set-up for a sequel show that never happened and it was unacceptable. Adora has never run into a He-man cosplayer at a con and she would probably break character around them because it would be awkward, though she would take a photo with them if they asked, she just wouldn't do a photoshoot. People would probably call her a fake fan LOL.

Chapter 4:

This chapter was supposed to cover weeks/months. Instead it covers *checks watch* a day. I intended to get all the way to the con, to the first day with them going to sleep and the next chapter focusing on it through to the entire end of the con. Yeah. Uh. Oops. I didn't account for how fucking horny they would be.

Adora's sword had a lowkey "preview" in the stories from the set, but they were from so far away it didn't even come across as a different sword, although in retrospect the proportions were off and the lights were definitely different. Still, the majesty of the reveal was kept intact.

Scorpia didn't message Catra until they were already all but making out, and Catra didn't even have her phone on her, so she didn't see it until she got in the car after they were all done.

The Larry the Lobster joke was from a whole exchange with Meta, that would later play out in Chapter 6, but was set up here in chapter 4. Also I'm like 90% sure Larry the Lobster is from Spongebob but I don't even know for sure tbh because I didn't watch it. I just vaguely get the joke and think it's funny.

They were on the roadside for about an hour, but that includes solo shots, their pair shots, setting up and planning out shots, and then packing everything away and saying goodbye afterwards.

Glimmer sat in the backseat hoping Adora would join her there and they could have their "confrontation" there, but Adora saw a free passenger seat and went "sweet". Glimmer couldn't tell her to sit in the back without tipping her off.

Catra is a flirt, but not nearly as much of one as Adora thinks she is, because Adora's sample is so skewed. Catra flirts with her so much, and she does see Catra flirt with others sometimes, so she assumes Catra is always pretty flirty, which just isn't true. Catra also doesn't have the same intent with others that she has with Adora, which Adora is totally blind to.

Chapter 5:

I hate coming up with handles, as stated earlier, so I just kind of muddled around and gave Perfuma "ivyscousin" as in "Poison Ivy's cousin". Not directly stated, so it doesn't break my immersion too much.

When Adora asked if Scorpia knew who Perfuma is she was mostly asking because Perfuma has a Very Strong Brand as an advocate for trans and women's rights, especially in the fandom/entertainment/cosplay space ie stuff like "Cosplay is not consent" and respecting a cosplayer's personal gender identity no matter what gender(s) they choose to cosplay. She's known for hosting similarly to Adora, but her focus is on queerness, whereas Adora is known more in her fandom circles and for being a maker, and thus hosts fandom-related events and cosplay workshops. Adora was also lowkey asking if Scorpia knew she was trans (something Perfuma is also vocal about). She wasn't sure if Scorpia was or not at that point, but she did suspect given things like her display name and Vibes she got.

Adora's difficulties communicating here are partially related to her autism. She says something factual or literal and neurotypical people draw a different conclusion/correlation based on it, leading to her followers thinking she's dating or her booking a single room on accident.

It's also part of why they can get so close to crossing the gap and then either Adora pulls up short, doubting her read on the situation, or she does something that makes Catra pull up short because it seems like Adora wants her too. That's also just because they're best friends in Lesbians tho.

Catra sleeps naked to minimize fur-pinching potential now she has her own bedroom, so when she knew she would be sharing a room with Adora, she pulled out the matching pajama set as quite literally the only pajamas she owned.

When I was planning this AU I was like "how funny would a hotel mix-up be" and joked to my friends about sprinkling in All The Tropes for this one. I absolutely could have written the same thing with them having two beds - they would still share during the day to watch the TV since it was at the foot of only one of them, etc - but... it was more fun to write there was only one bed.

Chapter 6

Catra smiles when Adora mentions the chisels because she's remembering how much she likes them and how many times she has used them.

When Adora goes to a con, she usually tries to wear Just The Character's Costume and hold Just their props. It's easier when she's at a con with someone who doesn't mind carrying a bag (or when the character has pockets, which isn't that common for her), but that's her general goal. If she wants to buy stuff, unless she's worried about it selling out immediately, she usually waits until she's about to leave the con anyway (to go to lunch or something) and then gets a bag (sometimes buying one, sometimes bringing a drawstring bag or something, whatever works) and does a sweep through the hall picking up everything she's scouted throughout the day. Then she'll go to lunch, dropping the stuff off at her hotel room if it's close or keeping it in the car until she leaves for the night otherwise. They were doing their vendor sweep before going to lunch on Saturday in this case.

Entrapta actually hates having crumbs in her bed and Catra has watched her get out of bed after going to sleep and strip it to remake it more than once at midnight, but there's a disconnect there between "don't want crumbs" and "don't do the things that make them (eating in bed)".

PGS is Pacific Geek Show, a con Adora and Spinnetossa both went to but never found time to meet up.

Adora's "mindless glower" is her autism stare, where she's trying to figure out the thing she's supposed to do/say to come across as a socially attuned human. She just thinks she's socially awkward and a bit worse at interacting with strangers in general.

The line about the reboot tarnishing memories of something she loves is just a factual concern, but it's there because that was the exact reason I didn't watch the new She-ra show at first.

The reboot itself, however, was not at all meant to be a meta reference and was entirely there to set up Catra getting the prop job. Adora meeting Mara on set was one of The Scenes for this fic, the last one both chronologically in fic and to occur to me.

I went to Clare to ask about what exactly Masters of the Universe meant because I didn't want to "misuse" it here even if She-ra in the fic universe is pretty different from how it is IRL.

The fic summary mentioned consequences and now, in chapter 6, we finally get to them.

I have weirdly specific headcannons about porn for them. Adora does watch it, sometimes, mostly to figure herself out/what her kinks are, but because sex is focused on her partner for her, it doesn't do a lot for her aside from introduce her to stuff. Catra doesn't like watching it, it makes her kind of uncomfortable, but she does enjoy nudes/lewds that people post and might look at them while getting off.

When Adora did watch porn, trying to figure out her kinks or prepare herself for theoretical future sex, she definitely found herself gravitating towards stuff featuring magicats if it was an option and she couldn't decide if it was worse to be projecting her friend onto it/thinking of her while watching or to just have a thing for magicats, because then she was like oh no what if I'm fetishizing them and had a small spiral (the answer is she has a Type that she might have even if she hadn't grown up with Catra, but she was also definitely Projecting).

She saw the tail thing years after she first pulled Catra's tail, and she knew tail-pulling could be a bullying thing, not to mention seeing it on TV portrayed just as a rude - or sometimes straight up disrespectful - annoyance, so she knew it wasn't universal even before porn prompted her to look it up and found it was pretty common but not universal. She just immediately wrote it off as something Catra didn't have.

I talked about this in the author's notes, but chapter 5 was supposed to run all the way until they woke up together on the second day of the convention, chapter 6 was supposed to be that entire second day, with them in the hall, the tail pulling, and both of them getting off and cuddling together that night, talking about emotions, falling asleep together, etc, and then ideally also include the panel with Perfuma as a final "comedic button" on the two convention chapters. I did not think that was such an unrealistic expection, and yet.

The tail-pulling leading to a makeout against the wall and them rushing up to their hotel room was The Scene for this fic and the entire reason it exists, though when I was writing it I became extremely partial to the photoshoot chapter as well.

Chapter 7:

This smut is 0% what I planned, but tbh I didn't have much of a plan except Catra curling around Adora and getting her off, and then Adora got all giggly. Even after two years, these two find new ways to surprise me/have sex that I wasn't anticipating.

Catra: "Adora's going to make us move for dinner." Adora literally the next scene: "We can stay here until it's time to eat." Catra had her number lol

In my earlier fics I kind of had a running thing about Catra not wearing underwear, but I stopped it because I felt like I had to repeatedly bring it up every time there was smut or it would seem like I "forgot" to remove Catra's underwear as part of it. For this fic I kind of returned to it, but with a twist by having it be that thongs are the only thing comfortable for her (which is absolutely a thing). Adora's just a bikini briefs girl, but she does wear thongs or no show underwear (or very rarely, go without) if a costume or photoshoot requires it.

I find Perfuma really interesting because she's positive but she works so hard for it, to the point where at times it seems (to Catra) to be a little disingenuous, when really it just means that she's trying hard to be "good," and that taking work doesn't make it any less genuine, it just comes across as more suspicious to Catra.

Catra gets to be a little protective of her friends. As a treat.

Perfuma is not too classy to say fuck, she just only uses it in certain contexts.

I had to retype like two chapters worth of notes here because my computer restarted and I hadn't saved.

Chapter 8:

I got kind of "stuck" on chapter 8, not because of anything to do with it, but because I fell down a Mass Effect hole and did a replay through the entire trilogy while writing it, so progress was slow. Once I finished, I wrote in 2 days more than I'd written in the last 2 weeks. Then of course I had to get sick/have health issues for another two weeks, slowing me down again.

Catra's in a small bedroom next to Entrapta's master because it's actually supposed to be the office, but she was the last to move in, so it's what's left. It used to be Entrapta's secondary work/storage space, until they got the shop all cleared out and organized and there was actually room for stuff there.

Side note: Entrapta loves sharing space with people who - on some level, at least - understand her. She's had room/workmates in the past who just couldn't handle her and those small incidents added up to her working alone in a steadily-deteriorating workshop because nothing else had worked out. Like, she had friends of course, but she usually only saw them IRL a few times a year. Living or working together every day had not been a success.

Adora taking the pencil out of Catra's hand again isn't so much a callback as maintaining continuity, but it's there to show how far they've come since the first chapter. Catra doesn't even really notice it.

Mara's wife is of course Light Hope, and she is looking into the camera with a dead stare to show what she thinks of this, but at the same time she has agreed to it because she loves her wife's enthusiasm, no matter how shitty and plastic the costume is. Teela's outfit is, as typical for the series, missing pants (the lack of pants in the original She-ra/He-man is fucking ridiculous y'all) and also strapless and thus lowcut, so it wasn't something Light Hope was going to just wear, hence her donning it over her clothes, which kind of completed the joke of being "forced" into this despite everyone (who knows them, at least) knowing she agreed to it.

She-ra's original actress was, at the time of the series filming and airing, officially an "ally". There were implications and rumors of course, but she didn't come out until over a decade later. It was pretty much one of those open air secrets, but she was already under national scrutiny portraying something very queer on TV and didn't want to deal with more.

"Leatherman" is a brand of knife multi-tools of some repute.

Catra proposing to bring Adora in was basically "Look, I'd be an absolutely terrible partner if I didn't do my best to bring her in on this. Besides, she's great at finishing so I might have her weather some of the props." She had to kind of trickle the requests out so she didn't seem like a crazy fan or something, but the fact that Adora was already known to the brand - as both a superfan and an occasionally host/brand rep for them - helped a lot with getting the screen test delivery set up. Anything they approved with Adora could eventually be promo, at least once it wasn't secret anymore.

Chapter 9:

I heavily considered including chapter nine just in the ending of chapter 8 since it was short anyway, but the time skip made it feel better to do as something separate. Also I would have had to pad out two Adora POVs in a row, which is easy enough with social media posts or some texts, but I wanted the "cliffhanger" moment so it would sink in for the reader similar to how it did for Adora.

There's a few weeks gap between the end of Chapter 8 and when all the props were done and ready for shoot.

I decided to capitalize "she's going to host multiple Lives" about this to make it a little clearer I'm talking about Instagram Lives, even though no one capitalizes it in casual conversation. They also don't add "Instagram" to the front of it, making that feel more awkward, so I went with the capitalization to make things clearer. I might change this later tbh (like on a subsequent read).

Adora did get a bit of a headstart thinking about how she would make the new She-ra costume, which let her draft some ideas, but she didn't actually start making anything until the first official photos/trailer dropped, both for NDA reasons and because having photos to reference is really important if you have her level of dedication to making something look right. Memory is inherently faulty, and it would be easy to remember two strips of armoring instead of three. She had materials lined up and ready to go once it was time.

I was going to make the director "he" (a vague ND insert, since that's what he's favoring these days), but then I worried people might picture a, like, old hollywood dude ordering the lesbians around for the remake of this very queer show, so I just had them be nonbinary. Their name is Diana because of Diana Huh from crewra and because it is ND's middle name (the D part).

Catra is allowed to say the studio she's working for, though she really isn't supposed to, and she had no intention of doing so until much later. Once the show's embargo (for reviews and the like) was up shortly before premier, she was allowed to actually talk more about what she worked on, and after the first episode airs she posts some photos of the sword cosplayers love her for (other than Adora, who already has everything she needs - and already loves her). Adora, for her part, gushed about the show and getting to visit set like crazy on her Instagram stories once the show was airing.

In the extended show credits, Wildcat Workshop is listed under props (along with everyone else who was part of that production team), and under Wildcat Workshop it lists the names of everyone there, plus Adora, as she was technically a consultant on the sword project. Not with a paid contract or anything, but she was signed onto the NDA and helped Catra spitball some ideas, as well as offer input whenever a design tweak was needed. Basically, Catra worked with the studio, but Adora also worked with Catra.

Mara isn't really "in the show's fandom", especially not online, but she does have a boxset and enjoys it in her personal life. However, she heard about Adora when they were in pre-production because the director was talking about the sword some cosplayer made that proved practical effects could photograph/film well and make the show a little more timeless than the original (the magic effects are really dated), and when they pulled it up to show Mara, they realized the sword was actually made by a propmaker (thanks to clicking through Adora's tag, which they hadn't done before, just assuming it was another cosplayer since she was also credited as Clawdeen). That's the inciting conversation that eventually led to Catra being hired, mostly because when Diana went to the propmaster asking about it he was just like okay why don't we just hire that person to do it then? (Propmasters don't necessarily make the props for a production, often commissioning, buying, or renting them, and this way no one else had to figure out how to reproduce a similar effect, even if they ended up needing to make some changes for it to hold up to the stress of production). Mara has had a scroll through Adora's Instagram following that conversation, as well as later seeing a video of her hosting that fan night from when the production team were later discussing letting her onto set per Catra's request because it was mentioned she had done work for them in the past and been reliable.

The show does end up being good. Different from the original, but with the same heart behind it, just a little more "serious" and modern. Adora loved waiting week-to-week for each new episode - something she never got with the original - and she really likes the new version, but the original will always be more special to her for many reasons. Mara is an amazing She-ra, obviously.

I considered ending the chapter with a final social media post or two from when the review embargo was up, but that was a big timeskip and I thought might be confusing and make it seem like Adora didn't keep her word/respect the NDA. The gist was that Catra posts a photo or two from the build of the sword, like a glamor shot and one progress shot, with a caption talking about how fun it was to work on the project and what an honor it was. Adora then shares that post to her story and the fans who only follow her just lose their minds over her dating the person who made the new sword. Adora also posts about visiting set and gushes about meeting Mara on her story, but she tries to be normal and professional about it while she does so, even though it's very obvious how excited she is.

The effects for the sword Catra made aren't identical to Adora's version of the prop, but it does have lights even if their placement and trigger mechanism are a bit different, as well as their colors and modes. The show will be using digital special effects as well, but combining that with practical makes it look all the better.

No original outline, this was pretty close to everything I planned initially, it just ended up being a Lot More than it was in my head. The only thing that changed is initially, instead of them cosplaying She-ra and Clawdeen, they were supposed to all be part of a group cosplay involving both their friend groups (which is what roped them into talking and having the conversation where they kind of made up in the first place), and Adora & Catra just happened to get a pair of characters that were dating. That was a vague idea in my head that changed once I started writing.

Next Project: I would love to tease my next AU here because I'm pretty sure of what it's going to be, but I'm going to be real with myself: I'm actually probably going to do some scattered one shots (AU and canon) since I have like a dozen WIPs clinging to my ankles.

#SaD #ficmeta #fic notes #i'll post the share link soon

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cirusthecitrus · 2 years

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for anillis and hec-tor! 🎀RIBBON - how would they fit into other worlds / aus? what aus would you like to try out? what fictional world would they fit / not fit into? 📎PAPERCLIP - a random fact. 🌈RAINBOW - what advice would they give to their younger self?

🌈What advice would they give to their younger self?

Hec-Tor: "Just fake your own death and run away, literally none of this is worth it"

Anillis: "Don't go anywhere, just stay where you at and wait until the electicity is back. YOU'RE PANICKING OVER NOTHING YOU DUMBASS!!!"

📎 A random fact

Hec-Tor knows the First Ones' language! And for a short time was very invested in the story of princess Adora's disappearance/abduction that happened centuries ago. He doesn't believe in the portal version and was very offended when he learned that some believed it was one of their people who took the royal baby

Anillis is oddly fond of stinging nettle. He likes how it looks, how it smells (he even uses special shampoo that smells like nettle) and he doesn't mind the burns it leaves on his skin. Anillis even used to make nettle crowns when he was younger. There is just something about it that made him connect with this plant more than with any other in existence. Maybe he saw himself in it but who am i to tell

🎀 How would they fit into other worlds / aus? what aus would you like to try out? what fictional world would they fit / not fit into?

Never thought about it, actually. Well I can say that they'd totally fit in human 2000s AU, cause the early 00s futurism fashion and aesthetics was a huge influence in some of my designs c:

I also like au where nothing bad happens, Anillis never becomes Horde Prime and the twins just get to live a normal life uwu

As for other worlds... eeehhh... my imagination can't work today so I can only think of Battle Royale or Hunger Games, cause it's fun to speculate whether or not they would survive lol. Spoiler: they'd win Hunger Games no matter who was sent to fight and then move to live in the capitol together. But they might not survive Battle Royale, they would probably make it to the finale, but you know, there can be only one winner - in this case they'd either try to cheat the system or one of them would have to take their own life so the other could escape without being forced to kill his brother himself

#thank you for the ask!#ask memes #ramblings #kur twins tag #spop #shera #horde prime #spop au

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adorascake · 3 years

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so maybe im thinking about a social media au,,,mind ur own business

#Adora’s a fitness influencer or something #catra’s a writer/artist and is a nyt best selling author #they get into a Twitter fight over something stupid one day (despite being total strangers)#maybe catra insulted some piece of workout equipment adora swears by #and adora noticed and was immediately offended but passive aggressive about it #and catra makes the kind of homophobic comment only the gays are allowed to make (what r u? gay? or some shit)#adora gets flustered and thinks catra’s being serious so she’s like ‘ur homophobia is showing’ or whatever #(listen i haven’t worked out the DETAILS)#and catra just retweets her with a link to her website. where she had written a handful of nyt best selling gay novels #yes their respective fans lose their shit #before adora can get over her embarrassment (and attraction) glimmer steals her phone and is a good wingwoman #by retweeting ‘drop ur location’ or some shit in a flirty gay way #and adora is traumatized #but five minutes later (when she gets her phone back) catra slides into her dms and asks if she wants to get dinner sometime #yeah🖤#that’s all i have JSJSJSJ #ik i just finished a celeb au but this just sounds so sexy to me #i have other projects to work on so it’s not like i can start this rn lmao #but NO ONE write it bc it’s mine🖤😤#u can write ur own but not this one🖤

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fifiophobia · 2 years

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I would love to read your analysis of catradora/batjokes relationships if you would like to share…

Ok, so the purpose of this analysis is going to be why people ship the following ships, what it tells us about the shippers, and other stuff I picked up on.

(Just as a warning, this is all my opinion. If you don't agree with my points then that's ok.)

Part 1: Aesthetics and Dynamic

I normally start off with aesthetics because its the easiest for me to word.

Design-wise (in my opinion at least) Catra and Adora have beautiful designs. I also noticed that their designs contrasted with each other. For example; Adora has a neater, symmetrical, uptight look fitting for a perfectionist like her. On the other hand, Catra's outfits aren't so restricting on her. Her clothing is often messy and sharper, something that reflects her complicated history and personality. Putting Catra's design next to Adora's sets up a sort of Yin and Yang between the two. Speaking of Yin and Yang, Batman and the Joker have something similar in terms of their designs

Batman's design is always shown to have darker colors, sharp angles, and a mysterious aura. Meanwhile, the Joker has more elaborate, fun colors, a goofy aura, and an energetic design. Something that ties their designs together without the two clashing is the uncanniness the Joker has. So, why am I talking about their designs? I bring up the designs in ships because how two characters look together can often subconsciously influence the audience to pair the two together as an interesting contrast whenever the two are near each other. Basically, BatJokes and Catradora design wise fall into the opposite's attract category. Something that makes for a fun contrast to explore within canon and with fans. BatJokes and Catradora also fall under the enemies to lovers category of ships. But why is the enemies-to-lovers dynamic so popular, even if it's slightly controversial? To summarize, enemies to lovers is a popular dynamic because of how interesting it is. It's interesting to see two characters that where seemingly destined to fight, develop feelings for each other. Its the duality of love/hate that drive the audience to become invested in the relationship. A typical "will they/won't they" dynamic.

Part 2: The Reception and The Shippers

(As a warning, this section is going to detail the dynamics between the two ships. Because of the nature of both ships, that means I'm going to talk about the controversial sides of both ships. If you don't like that stuff, then I strongly recommend you look away.) For anyone wondering why I chose to analyze two ships at the same time, its because I think these ships parallel each other. If you want evidence, I have a collage on my blog that shows off some of the similarities between the two

Here's part 1 of 4

To make a long story short, Batman and Adora share similar mannerisms, have traumatic childhoods that have turned them into fighters, and they sometimes hide their emotions. While the Joker and Catra are both ruled by chaos and power (while having an obsession with Batman/Adora) (And like I pointed out in the post, Catra/Joker drove a red/black/white girl away due to their toxicity. Leading said girl to fall for a plant girl) Because of the similarities, I think that using the two ships will help me explain the appeal within these kinds of ships to outsiders. Doing research for this, I found a lot of discussions and debate about Catradora. People were trying to figure out the morality of shipping Adora with Catra because of the stuff Catra put Adora through. I also found that people wondered why people would ship Catradora if Catra was so horrible and if their relationship was so rocky in earlier seasons.

I also found that people wondered why people would ship Catradora if Catra was so abusive and if their relationship was so rocky in earlier seasons.

While I was researching this, I watched a video by Crow Bro called, Is it morally ok to ship toxic pairings

A quote that stuck out to me in their video was,

"What may be triggering to you may be a sate space for someone else to vent their desires without actively participating in a real toxic relationship"

I sometimes see in Catra related videos (such as this video: “Why Catra Matters” by Five by Five takes) Catra helped them deal with their struggles as abuse victims, and how shipping Catradora gives them comfort.

In a similar vein, Chase J's video, QueerCoding the Joker: An Analysis, Chase states in the 19th section,

"But suffice to say that in some of his backstories, the Joker got abused and he got out of the situation. In several of these instances he takes back the power taken from him, sometimes in rather gruesome ways. But, the joker has always acted as a vehicle for readers to live vicariously, to imagine some of that abandonment of societies expectations, rules, and laws."

Similar to abuse victims relating to Catra, the Joker can also be seen as a safe space for abuse victims to explore their negative emotions without hurting anyone.

Chase J words this better than I do when they state in the same video:

"So perhaps seeing a character like the Joker deal with trauma, hallucinations or panic attacks and remain himself, is not only relatable but inspiring"

Am I excusing Catra and the Jokers actions? Not at all

I am 100% aware of the terrible things both characters have done, and I'm sure that the majority of shippers are aware of this too. If someone doesn't like the ship for that reason then that's fine.

A majority of Catradora/Batjokes shippers are most likely into the ship for the opposite attracts and (like I mentioned earlier) for the enemies to lovers it brings.

Perhaps its the idea that someone who had gone through so much trauma finding love with one of the few people they relate to can be appealing for many people.

Part 3: Why is Enemies to Lovers popular in LGBT pairings?

On another note, I realized while doing research for this, enemies to lovers is a popular trope with non heterosexual pairings. I have a couple of theorizes for this.

Maybe it's related to gayngst within some of the shippers (since, sadly, angst with lgbt people is common due to fear from non lgbt people), maybe it’s because villains often resonate with member’s of the lgbt community, maybe its a coincidence, maybe-

TLDR: Catradora and Batjokes both fall under similar tropes and overall have a lot of similarities. Seeing these similarities pushed me into a rabbit hole where I tried to find reasons why these are popular ships despite their controversial traits.

At least, this post just a big theory over fictional characters that allow the audience to explore aspects of themselves that they normally wouldn't

(Edit: I do not condone any real toxic relationships, and I don’t condone using fiction to justify any real harm. I’m just using two controversial ships to explain why these types are popular despite the controversy)

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chaotic-catra · 3 years

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Something that I love about spop is the importance they attach to the parent's role and how the relationship of each character with their parental figures directly affect their personalities, views and the way they interac with others.

Adora always feels like she has to prove her worth and protect everyone because she was raised to be a leader in a really unhealthy way. Glimmer always tries to prove she can do things by herself because since Micah died she has been overprotected. Bow tries to make others feel comfortable being themselves when they’re with him because he knows what it’s like to pretend to be someone else to fit in. Scorpia gives her all to keep the super pal trio together because they are the only family she has and she'd do whatever it takes to keep it together.

I know it sounds silly, but cartoons tend to omit the parent's figure or only show them at dinner time, totally oblivious to the their children's lives, and in She Ra it's easy to see the direct influence they have on their children. It is so important to show how sometimes we are the way we are due to external things that we don't control.

#skipping catra because we all know the influence of sw #frosta craves murder because she's 11 with no parents #she ra #spop #mypost

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witch-apologist · 2 years

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I've said this before but the "Did Catra abuse Adora during the war?" Debate is ultimately useless. Because abuse isn't some one and done black and white topic. It's not "do abusive actions and soil the relationship forever" which yes, can be a proper and healthy response to something. But thats not a one size fits all resolution. If you have had a toxic or abusive relationship with someone in which you were being hurt its your prerogative, and yours alone how you address/resolve the situation. Whether that's seething hatred, no contact, begrudging tolerance, or reconciliation. Yes you can argue that some abusive actions are unforgivable and I would agree, but its not our job to police other peoples individual choices as to what happens to them thats unforgivable. Abusive behaviour and actions are similarly also not one size fits all. I have been victim to many kinds of abuse over my life, as well as apart of mutually toxic relationships, or just had someone be unkind to me without there being a personal history that informs how I feel about it. And all of these different situations affected me differently and to varying degrees. The context, current situation, and the past before it all ALL inform how something affected/affects me and how I would handle further interactions with said person.

Regardless if Catras behavior and actions towards Adora can be categorized as abuse (or Adoras actions towards Catra for that matter) what matters most is if both people are committed to becoming better and communicating and neither willing to take mistreatment anymore. Adora will not take unkindness or endangerment from Catra and Catra will not take Scapegoating from Adora. Do they fumble sometimes? Yes. Does miscommunication accidentally make some things look like a crossing of boundaries? Yes. But in the end they correct themselves before they steer too far off course. And that's why season 5 is so important to me because its a fairly realistic-for-the-medium reconciliation story. Of course it isn't going to be fixed right away after they say sorry. Of course it isn't instantly going to be better the moment they are on the same side again. Of course Catra is going to slip up, Of course Adora is going to repress her own wants. Its the fact that both of them work on themselves, and that both of them learn how to shed their toxic influences and their animosity and their misunderstandings. Its about how working on it and genuinely trying to change even when you falter, ultimately brings about good.

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ericamzdm · 4 years

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S5E6 Pick-Apart - Pt 2

Continuing on from Pt 1 - We’re still on ‘Adora Never Really Owns Her Shit (and is more than a little terrifying)’

You’re holding her prisoner, Adora.

YOU’RE HOLDING HER PRISONER, ADORA

...that’s Shadow Weaver language, Adora.

(~6:40)

Adora: “Catra is driving me crazy. I thought we actually stood a chance at fixing things this time. But after everything we’ve been through, she’s still a stubborn brat.”

After a brief interlude on Etheria, we’re back to Adora being angry about Catra’s lack of compliance. (At least this time she’s just complaining to Glimmer and not, you know, assaulting Catra).

This is just reinforcing my existing impressions - Adora is upset that Catra isn’t falling in line. Adora’s version of ‘fixing things’ is ‘Adora tells Catra what to do’. Adora views Catra as a ‘stubborn brat’.

That is some Bad Shit.

Adora continues to treat Catra, her peer and supposed love interest, as a child - except that I would also be upset to see her treating a child like this.

Because ‘brat’ is an awful word, especially when used against actual children. It is, by design, an attack leveled on the powerless by the powerful, defining them entirely by how convenient they are for their caretakers. It pretends that any inconvenient reactions or desires are the product of intentional, unearned spite and ‘stubbornness’, not the result of the target being a full person with real, independent feelings, needs, and goals (and in this specific case, boatloads of trauma).

Again - all of this is Shadow Weaver language. Adora is still letting Shadow Weaver live rent-free in her head, defining her perception of Catra, her agency, and her actions (and it’s an ugly, abusive perception). Their relationship is never going to be healthy until Adora recognizes that, and works to correct it.

(~6:48)

Glimmer: “Did you think she was instantly going to become a different person?”

Adora: “I thought she’d at least try. We all risked our lives to save her and she can’t even say thank you? Can you believe it?”

...yikes. Where to start.

(a) Adora’s complaining about Catra not performing gratitude sufficiently continues to be a real bad look. You do the right thing because it is the right thing, not because you expect people to lave your ego afterwards. You definitely don’t pitch a fit when the fail to adhere to this bargain you struck with them inside your own head.

The impression is very much that Adora rescued Catra, not because she wanted Catra to be safe, but because she wanted Catra back (under her control).

(b) It’s pretty creepy that, in this conversation, Adora is outright admitting that she wants to make Catra into a ‘different person’. Because if that’s what she wants...who is Catra-as-she-is to her? A child, in need of her guidance? A lump of clay, waiting for her molding influence? What is she in love with, if not the person in front of her?

It’s one thing to want to help someone you love to grow, and become the best possible version of themselves. But that’s working with them, to find that version and bring it forward, not imposing some external sense of ‘better’ on them.

(c) Adora continues to act out violently throughout this scene - kicking over boxes, lobbing Space Jello around. Catra’s not the only one with emotional dysregulation issues.

(d) Not thrilled with Glimmer/the use of Glimmer in this scene. If she’s supposed to have grown emotionally over the season so far, I’m not seeing it.

(~10:30)

Adora: “That signal’s coming from her chip, isn’t it? Once again, Catra is ruining our lives.”

Good job victim-blaming, Adora. Man, you really are just breaking out all your old tricks in this episode, aren’t you.

(To clarify: Adora is explicitly blaming Catra for something she had no control over, a side effect of her trauma, and something she is not even aware of. It is deeply fucked up.)

(~12:30)

Adora: “Grow up and let us remove [the chip], or we’re all dead.”

I will address the Entrapta-related content in part 3 - that said, Adora is once again marking up Catra’s not actually unreasonable fears and trauma reactions to “childishness”, and doing a hell of a lot of threatening looming and grabbing.

Yes, they need to remove the chip for everyone’s safety, but that’s clearly not the primary driver to Adora’s anger here; that continues to stem from the fact Catra isn’t just Doing What She Wants, even when Catra has no way of knowing what the situation is.

(~12:47)

Adora: “If you think hiding from the people you hurt will make you feel better, we’ll drop you off and you’ll never have to see us again. You’ll never have to see me again.”

Which makes it hard for me to really buy this in the way (I have to assume) it was intended.

Structurally, this is Adora finally, fully releasing the idea that she should control Catra. She is accepting that Catra’s decisions are based on Catra’s wants and needs - they’re not fundamentally ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’, simply because they conflict with Adora’s own desires. She’s admitting that, however much she wants a relationship with Catra, Catra can chose a life without her in it.

All very vital and necessary stuff.

And it feels desperately unearned. There’s no build up, no moment of realization. It just kind of appears in the dialogue, which itself is delivered in tones of anger, frustration, and defeat. It comes across as Adora being bitter that she can’t force Catra into choosing her, not as her reconciling herself to the idea this is Catra’s choice to make, as her own full, independant person.

(~13:00)

Catra: “Adora, wait. Please. Stay.”

But it’s close enough to giving Catra a bit of space, and the narrative treats it as such.

Because this is what Catra needed to continue her growth - the freedom to chose. The chance to look at her options, and decide what she really wants, without anyone threatening her, or making demands, or trying to force her hand.

And what she wants is for Adora to stay.

NB: This is not some kind of trick being played on Adora; this is Catra finally - now that she has the space and the choice - opting in to to relationship that Adora has been trying to force for the entire episode (and series).

(~16:50)

Catra: “I want to go home.”

Adora: “I’m getting us out of here.”

This is another instance of Catra making a choice - Going home is now a thing Catra has chosen for herself, rather than a statement being imposed on her by Adora (however well meaning).

This is also a shift in how Adora speaks about Catra - it’s now “Us”, not “You” - important and welcome! It signals a shift in how she’s treating Catra, where she’s now an equal partner in the relationship, not a junior to be controlled and overridden. (Again, I would just be happier if it did not feel quite so out-of-left-field.)

(~21:30)

And at the end of the episode, Catra is finally given the space to come out and start dealing with the rest of the BFS at her own pace, with her own bondaries in place.

She’s still got a long way to go, but now that she has the freedom to chose, what she’s chosen is to take the first steps towards building healthy, non-abusive relationships.

================

Part 3

#spop #spop season 5 #pick-apart #catra #adora #catradora #abuse #because again #adoras behaviour here is Not Great

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princessofgayskull · 3 years

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somehow I’ll still love you more headcanons

Some wonderful people have requested headcanons about my catradora fankid! So I’ve come to deliver! @needtotakeablake @dudebrocatra

Spoilers for the last chapter of somehow I’ll still love you more so I’m putting these under the cut!

I think I mentioned this in the author’s note at the end of chapter 7, but the Surge that was Aurora- or Rory’s- birthday was the longest but final Surge. There is never another one.

Perfuma is able to heal the Heart Blossom, but wherever there is new growth there is a faint line that shows where the tree broke; this line comes to be called “Aurora’s Mark”

Kittens are not able to retract their claws at birth (I got to do research on kittens for this fic and that was some of the most fun I’ve had researching a fic) and so for the first couple of years of her life, Rory can’t either. She accidentally claws at her face when she’s sleeping during her first few months so Adora and Catra have to put little gloves on her when she outgrows being swaddled. Sometime they’ll let her fall asleep holding their hand and once she’s asleep put a toy or blanket in her grasp so she doesn’t hurt herself.

No, Wrong Hordak is never allowed to babysit. He basically becomes Ren’s nanny given that Ren’s moms are princesses of two different kingdoms, so sometimes he watches both Ren and Rory- but only when Rory gets older.

I almost included a little bit about Catra having the urge to lick Rory’s head and clean her, but it didn’t fit the tone I was going for in the last scene, so I scrapped it. I still hold onto it as a headcanon, tho.

Rory is not as much cat as Catra is; this is of course, because her other mother is human. Her eyesight isn’t as sharp and neither is her hearing, and her hair is more human than it is mane.

Rory is an only child and stays one. I can’t see Catra and Adora trying for another child without worrying about tempting fate or causing favoritism. Besides, Rory basically has siblings in Kai, Ren, and Bow and Glimmer’s kids (twins, a girl and a boy about a year and half younger than Rory). She also has grandparents in George and Lance, and Micah and Angella.

Rory is almost never not with her moms in the first few years of her life. In my mind, Etheria had a less segmented culture that allowed children to be seen and heard and it’s commonplace for parents to have their children in close range when they’re working. Rory starts coming to the Embassy when she’s about four months old; either Catra or Adora will carry her in a swing. She basically spends most of her childhood there, but Catra and Adora aren’t the only parents so she always has friends around her age. She’s much more friendly and outgoing than her moms were as little kids, but that’s less because of personality and more of a difference in socialization. She makes up just as many imaginary friends as she has real friends.

As an infant, she takes intense fascination with pulling Catra’s tail. Whenever she gets upset and can’t be soothed, Adora will transform into She Ra because the light and glow are very entertaining to her daughter. Catra doesn’t object because she figures Rory should be introduced to She Ra as early as possible. When Rory’s about three, she and Adora invent a game where when she’s getting restless, Adora will transform and Rory will practice climbing up her.

She’s very much a wild child. She’s hyper and has a lot of energy and if not entertained or stimulated she can run off in hopes of finding something that will keep her focus. She’s bright and a quick learner; she loves hanging out in different kingdoms and talking to people about their lives, but she scares Catra and Adora when she does so cause their daughter has basically run off to talk to a complete stranger.

Ren is about eleven months older than Rory. They grow up basically cousins and definitely best friends being the daughter of princesses and diplomats. (They have a lot of time to hang out together since their mothers are almost working). In my mind Ren and Rory represent something that was never possible during the war, that is children who come from both rebellion and Horde backgrounds and for some reason this makes me very emotional.

Kai often gets stuck watching the two of them. No one can figure if Kai’s just a bad influence or Rory’s just a naturally wild child (she is, 100%) and the two bring out the wildest in Ren.

During a party held in Plumeria, Kai (11), Ren (7) and Rory (6) run off and discover Aurora’s mark and so Rory, being Rory and being 6, claws her name where the mark halves the tree.

Rory has a deathly fear of fire after Kai took playing his father too seriously in a game they were playing and set a little patch of grass on fire that burned her foot.

Catra and Adora take care of educating Rory until she’s about eleven years old. Rory has a soft spot for reading (yes it's because her moms read to her all the time when she was little) and as adept at picking up languages as Adora is. Very early can Rory read First Ones writing. (isn’t it weird to think that Rory is half first one?)

At eleven, she starts showing signs of magical ability. She attempts to keep it hidden knowing her mothers’ history with magic, but this makes the problem worse. Catra is the first to figure out something is wrong and breaks down Rory’s walls pretty fast, but she’s the opposite of angry or set off upon learning Rory’s little secrets. Catra and Adora theorize this magic ability might’ve come from the moment that Adora used She Ra’s magic to alleviate the pain Catra was in during labor. They encourage Rory to go study at Mystacore where Glimmer and Bow’s children are studying. Rory goes during the weeks, where Micah and Castaspella are her primary teachers and comes home during the weekends.

Rory does not want to become a full fledged sorceress; after she graduates she wants to join the Etherian Peace Corps and help keep the tranquility she was born from. Her combat fighting style is a mix of Adora and Catra’s, as both taught her how to fight.

I hope that satisfies! Thank you for showing Rory some love. It means SO MUCH!

#This was a pleasure to do #I'm sorry it took me a hot minute to get around to #dumb midterm projects keeping me away from my fic writing asdghjk #somehow I'll still love you more #fankid oc

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nixxx11 · 3 years

Text

I’m about to get all SJW in your face, but hear me out. This may be important to many of you.

Exactly why do people need to be disrespected for what they consider entertainment? Why are people looked down on for watching cartoons? Why are people looked down on for living their lives how they want to?

In the present day scenario, where older audiences are losing their sense of ethics and values in the mad race for what? Proof that they're older? Where in the name of entertainment, we are being provided with cheap and nonsensical thrills. Where every news is breaking news, cartoons bring the needed innocence and joy into our lives. You don't need to enjoy watching them, but the fact that it's animation being your reason is very invalid and hurtful to many expansive fanbases.

If anyone laughs at you, saying that cartoons are meant for kids, ask that person whether it is worth being an adult and hence being able to comprehend all the deplorable acts, crime and deceit which humanity is obsessed with, or is it better to be who you need and who you want, a "kid", for a few moments and immerse yourself into a different, more unique world, which unfortunately is unachievable in reality.

My point here being that the stereotype that cartoons are meant for kids is absolutely ridiculous. I'm getting tired of constantly being labelled. People who have not kept up with time will carry such opinions about "cartoons" and the animation industry in general. The thing is that if we could point them towards some good animated work out there, I see no reason why anyone wouldn't enjoy them.

There's some intense tearjerkers out there, like Miraculous, She-ra and extremely emotional carriers like My Little Pony and I'm not afraid to say it. For example, its fandom and Miraculous itself is my inspiration and daily anchor to pull me out of the worst seas in life. Let me tell you salters that it really suffocates us when you invalidate that.

As we get older, there are certain activities we forfeit in the pursuit of maturity. Sure, intentions for target audiences vary. But the audience itself always does. We're people, not drags. Society shouldn't be telling us what to do and what ways our interests make us childish when it comes to our entertainment.

We do what we like. If you want to watch My Little Pony, do it. If you want to watch Miraculous, do it. If you want to watch Powerpuff Girls, do it. If you want to watch Magic School Bus, do it! If you want to watch ABC Monsters, GO FOR IT. I want you to know that unfortunately not everyone has developed that mindset, but I will never define you negatively based on your interests. In fact, I'll even give it a try! I know how hard it can be when people immediately shut down your interests. Don’t hesitate to flood my askbox with recs and even if you just need to rant about it. Because yeah, I can relate. To how many times I’ve blocked myself out because of these types of kids in my grade.

I and many others are tired of being scared to be open about this. I’m tired of people constantly dissing the thing I find joy in. These can and has helped me through the hardest times, it can be a reason for living to many teenagers, adults, and kids. You can find that stupid, and it’s totally fine. You have to respect it, though. Go along your way, no one is forcing you to watch anything. But do you really need pressure others into believing what they’re doing isn’t okay? People laugh at others simply because they don't fit their narrow definition of a normal person. Like no please, stop.

It's such a stereotype that animation is for kids. My point here is not which shows we watch. It's that nothing is strictly meant for age groups. Keep doing what you love.

It’s not even just about childish-stereotyped shows in fact. This can also apply the other way around. As just about every child growing up in this generation can relate to, even parents tend to become edgy about what we’re seeing on screens. I do get that. I really do. I could say my dad at least is fairy chill about it however. We all know we’re not going to be copying everything we see on TV or online. I can say for myself that I only consider it entertainment. For example, if I’ve learned any values from Miraculous, it’s to not expect all gifts from life but to acknowledge the fact that life itself is a gift. This show is great for young kids. They aren’t necessarily going to be copying the mistakes characters make. It’s supposed to teach them that having flaws are okay, but you must reflect and learn for them. Regardless of that, my younger sister watching Miraculous was made into a huge problem at my house. She started about the same age I did. And for the record, growing up with Miraculous hasn’t influenced me to do bad things, it’s actually taught me good values and helped me in my darkest hours.

I sincerely don’t know where the idea comes from that kids don’t know about anything unless they see it displayed on TV. From personal experience, let me tell you that’s absolutely ridiculous. It’s as if Miraculous is the only reason my younger sister knows what a crush is. When that isn’t true at all. But I do understand your worry to some extent. As I said, my parents are fairly easy about it but that could differ for everyone. This leads to my next point about age ratings.

Age ratings are a caution number. Something rated Y-7 doesn’t mean only 7 year olds can find it entertaining. There are adults who become absorbed in shows targeted towards younger audiences. There are kids who become absorbed in shows targeted towards older audiences. As long as it isn’t badly influencing or restricted, it isn’t right and it isn’t wrong.

We’re in such a rush to maturity that we forget what that actually means. Real maturity is understanding that there’s no certain age to stop, start or continue doing what we want. What it is doesn’t matter. What matters is that we respect that everybody has different interests instead of degrading them. As I said before, it applies to everything but this post is mainly to defend animation.

And again, this post isn’t about which shows we watch. If that's what you enjoy, then no one should be invalidating that. I don’t care if it’s ABC monsters, True, Rainbow Kingdom, Magic School Bus, or Elmo. Many cartoons have expansive fandoms. I'm proud to be a part of many of these and I will never back out for the sake of salters’ pleasure.

Shows don’t have any specific standards in order to be emotional rollercoasters. Here's a no brainer as a cartoon geek; Ask me to name some worldwide loved cartoon ships. Adrien x Marinette. Luz x Amity. Catra x Adora. Ladybug x Chat Noir. Marinette x Kagami. And hopefully with an open mind you can go check these shows out.

Repeat after me: Being cartoons does not define them.

If you didn’t bother to think about anything I’ve just said and plan to be the same, unfollow me.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to watch Miraculous. There’s no poster plastered over it saying I’m too old or too young.

#cartoons #DID I BURN Y'ALL IN MY GRADE WHO TEASED ME ABOUT MY AMITY PFP #DON'T INSULT MY LOVELIES #AS MY IDOL WOULD SAY #THANK U #NEXT

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yespleasefandomtrash · 4 years

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adora contemplating that it’s okay to have wants as well as thinking about how much she loves catra, culminating in an extremely unorthodox proposal (but nonetheless one very fitting for the two of them)

~*~

Adora knew she had problems with… accepting things, as it were. On her first birthday - or what they’d decided was her birthday - as a part of the Rebellion, Glimmer and Bow had refurbished her entire wardrobe. With the help of Angella. She’d be so overwhelmed that not only was it still a struggle for her to wear most of those outfits but she’d also tried to make gifts for each one of them in return. They’d informed her, gently, that birthdays did not operate as exchanges. Their presents to her were tokens of appreciation for her existence, no strings attached and nothing required in response.

She hadn’t believed them at the time. Or at least hadn’t understood them. How could someone appreciate her solely because she existed? In the Horde, a person had to work to prove their worth. They had to constantly show that they’d earned their positions. They had to justify that they deserved to live, because no one inherently deserved anything when there was no guarantee they’d all make it to see the next day. Then, as She-Ra, every day Adora felt like she had to prove her loyalties to the Rebellion as well as demonstrate her capabilities as a leader. She couldn’t let them down, no matter what the cost. As they learned to trust her, She-Ra’s responsibility shifted to being the savior. There was no one else in the universe who could do what She-Ra could, who held the power that She-Ra held, which meant She-Ra - Adora - had to be ready to do anything for the sake of those who could do nothing.

It was a mantra. A lifestyle drilled into Adora’s mind. Don’t ask, don’t want, and there will be nothing to lose. She should only take what she needed because anything more was unnecessary and would only be a sign of weakness. In the Horde, Shadow Weaver made sure Adora was never weak. In turn, as part of the Rebellion, Adora did the same for She-Ra. She clung to those basics, forcing herself to be content with working towards a greater purpose. Once, to be Force Captain. Then, or perhaps even now, to be She-Ra, and to do whatever it took to save all of Etheria.

You deserve love, too. Mara’s words often echoed in her mind, as if she’d only heard them yesterday and not months ago. Adora had struggled to take that advice to heart. ‘Deserve’ was too fickle of a term - maybe she did deserve love, but the rest of Etheria deserved to live and didn’t that outweigh her own selfish wants?

But she was gradually starting to understand that such concepts did not have to be mutually exclusive. She’d saved Etheria while the love of her life had saved her at the same time. She didn’t have to choose. Or maybe she had chosen, and she’d chosen both.

Adora, much like her girlfriend, had taken to meeting with Perfuma. To help her process… well, everything. She kept this fact private - not because she was embarrassed or anything of the like, but because she simply didn’t want any of her friends to worry. Glimmer was having to iron out the details of co-ruling with King Micah, Bow was helping his dads rebuild and restore their library, and Catra was working harder than anyone just to become accustomed to Bright Moon and to improve her relations with the people she’d hurt during her time at the Horde.

Perfuma’s response to these concerns had been that her problems were not lesser just because she’d convinced herself they were of smaller magnitude, because a person drowning in five feet of water and a person drowning in twenty feet of water were still both drowning, regardless of the difference in depth. They both needed to be saved, and both would need treatment afterwards to survive. In other words, it was okay if her friends worried on her behalf because her problems were as important as anyone else’s. Concern and empathy, Perfuma believed, were the core components of a strong bond between individuals.

Perfuma was undoubtedly right, but Adora kept her talks with the princess to herself all the same.

Another common topic at her sessions was her supposed ‘self-sacrificial’ tendencies. Those tendencies were connected to her difficulty in accepting her inner wants and desires, Perfuma had explained, and her obsessive need to be someone for everyone at any time. If she kept that up, she would eventually stretch herself too thin, hurting herself and perhaps even those around her.

So, with Perfuma’s help, Adora had created a new mantra to live by. She did not have to be everything for everyone. It was okay to want, to be selfish, to love and be loved. Perfuma was delighted to note her progress over the past several months, and Adora couldn’t help but feel pleased with herself, too. Which was also okay. There was no shame in pride and self-love.

In other words… Adora wouldn’t have traded the world she was in for a million new universes to explore.

“So how do you tell the difference between a star and a planet?” Catra asked, frowning up at the sky. “They all look like bright circles to me.”

Adora chuckled at her girlfriend’s blunt question. “I think stars twinkle and planets shine is how most people do it. But I can just… feel it. The difference.”

They were lying on one of the flatter rooftops of Bright Moon’s palace, resting side by side and staring up at the stars together. Catra liked being up high to get away from people, and Adora was more than happy to accompany her in being alone. They tried to climb up and stargaze every week, and while they were not always successful, it made the times they did manage to get away together even more special.

“I guess that’s She-Ra’s influence,” Catra mused. “Feeling the difference without knowing anything about stars.”

Adora laughed. “Probably so. I’ve never studied astronomy in my life, so…”

Catra snorted. “Except for the one time you fell asleep when George was trying to explain constellations to you. So yeah, definitely She-Ra.”

“I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” The conversation had actually been incredibly interesting - she’d just been exhausted from helping Glimmer with Bright Moon business all day.

George had recently provided them with a copy of a book about stars, as most of Etheria had been ecstatic about their reappearance in the sky. Adora and Catra had spent the past few nights spotting constellations amongst the stars, something Adora - or She-Ra, perhaps - apparently had a knack for. Catra preferred to make up her own, each story she invented for them more ridiculous than the next.

“Hey, is that a constellation?” Catra asked, pointing upwards and to her right at a cluster of stars that formed a vaguely humanoid shape. “Or is it coincidentally a weird pattern that looks like a person?”

Adora had to physically tear her gaze from her girlfriend, turning her head to look up at the sky. Not that the stars weren’t beautiful, but their light didn’t hold a candle to Catra, who in her opinion was a thousand times more stunning. Although she was probably biased on that front. “Yes,” she said after examining the stars Catra had pointed out to her. She actually remembered this particular constellation from George’s book, admittedly only because it was exactly on page 100. “It’s the Huntress constellation. The daughter of a Titan - the Titans were a race of people after the First Ones - sacrificed her life at her father’s hand to save her friends travelling with her. Her father intended to kill them all, and she was willing to do anything to stop him. She was able to trick her father into returning to his prison where he held up the sky, as the First Ones had condemned his fate to be, but in doing so he managed to strike a final blow across her body that ended up being fatal.”

“Parents hurting their children, huh?” Catra murmured. “I guess that’s not something new.”

Adora had been so excited that she’d remembered the story behind a constellation of her own accord that she’d forgotten how tragic this one happened to be. “The girl was actually one of She-Ra’s most loyal lieutenants.” Her own voice had dropped almost to a whisper. “When she died to save everyone, She-Ra immortalized her sacrifice in the stars.” She reached up, tracing the outstretched arm of the girl. “She’s drawing her bow - fighting to protect her friends even in death.”

Adora heard Catra’s claws scrape against the rooftop. “Why are so many of these stories so depressing?” she grumbled. “Someone is always dying to save other people. Why - why can’t a person do good things and just… die of old age or something? Can’t they still be remembered for their achievements without the sacrifice play?”

Adora knew she should have been listening more tentatively to her girlfriend’s words, as there was undoubtedly a lesson there she herself needed to take to heart, but Catra’s profile in the light of the moon was simply too mesmerizing. She couldn’t focus on anything else.

“Stop looking at me like that.” Even in the low silver light of the moon, the deep blush on Catra’s face was clear.

Adora had to bite back her laughter. “Like what?”

“Like… I’m everything.”

But she was everything. “You’re telling me I’m not allowed to admire my beautiful girlfriend?” Adora teased, rolling onto her side to better face Catra. “That’s not fair.”

“Shut up,” Catra muttered, but there was no acidity in her voice.

Adora leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to Catra’s forehead. “I wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true.”

“Yeah, you have this terrible tendency of always telling the truth. The only person worse than you at lying is Scorpia,” Catra grumbled. But she didn’t seem to mind the kiss. “And if you’re going to kiss me, don’t you dare miss my lips on purpose.”

Mm. So Catra definitely didn’t mind the kiss. And Adora was more than happy to oblige with her girlfriend’s requests, though maybe ‘demands’ was a more accurate term. She lifted herself onto her elbows for a better vantage point before leaning down to capture Catra’s lips with her own, humming in satisfaction as her girlfriend began to purr. Maybe it was a silly conclusion to come to but kissing Catra, no, being with Catra was everything Adora wanted and more. She’d give up a thousand lifetimes just for the moment she was living.

No. No. She didn’t need to give anything up. She had what she wanted, there and now. No sacrifice needed to be made because Catra was with her, and no one could take that away from them.

Least of all herself.

“Hey,” Catra said, brow furrowing in concern. She carefully moved the both of them up into sitting positions. “Are you okay? What’s wrong? Wait, are you crying?!” Her voice got more frantic with each question, and she took one of Adora’s hands in her own. “Talk to me.”

Adora reached up with her free hand to touch her face, surprised to find it streaked with tears. She didn’t remember starting to cry. “‘Talk to me’,” she found herself repeating, warmth blossoming in her chest. “You and Perfuma have been working on healthy communication strategies, haven’t you?”

Catra flushed. “I - yeah, maybe” She shook her head. “Dammit, Adora, stop deflecting! I asked about you.”

“I…” Adora hesitated, her free hand dropping to rest on the rooftop. She sighed. “I don’t know.”

“Oh, come on,” Catra scoffed. “You think I’m buying that?”

“I don’t know,” Adora insisted, pushing the hair that had fallen free from her ponytail behind her ear. “I’m just” - she silently cursed as she felt herself getting choked up - “so happy, because I love you and I want you to always be with me and now - now there’s no war that can take us away from each other. I’m… I’m allowed to want you, and to want to be with you. Although that probably makes no sense.” She swallowed the lump in her throat, wiping her tears away with her sleeve. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to kill the mood.”

Catra’s pupils had gone wide, and after a long pause she responded by pressing a fiery kiss to her lips, an unexpected reaction but certainly not an unpleasant one. Adora wasn’t complaining. “Say that again,” Catra mumbled against Adora’s lips. “Say that you want me.”

Adora almost had to fight to break away from the kiss, panting slightly from the intensity. “I want you,” she whispered, pushing her girlfriend’s bangs out of her face. The sincerity in her voice would have normally been terrifying but with Catra she wanted nothing more than to be completely honest. “I want you to be with me for the rest of my life. I want to be selfish. I want to be the only one who gets to call you mine.” She pressed a kiss to Catra’s face between each wish, moving from her nose to her cheek to back to her lips.

Catra’s confidence had long since been replaced by a crimson blush, which Adora did not mind, as flustered was a look she always loved to see on her girlfriend. “You know,” she muttered, leaning in to press their foreheads together, “I didn’t mean for you to start reciting wedding vows to me.”

Adora couldn’t help but laugh. “You know what a wedding is?”

“Mostly. Spinnerella explained it to me.”

“I bet that was an entertaining conversation.”

“Ugh. Netossa seemed to think so.”

Adora absentmindedly stroked Catra’s hair. She’d be lying if she hadn’t thought about marriage. Not much, obviously, because she’d been fighting a war her entire life, but the idea had crossed her mind once or twice. In some ways, a ceremony felt superficial, but being able to share such a blissful moment with friends and the immortalization of a relationship that came with it…

“We should get married,” she decided.

Catra sat bolt upright, pupils wide in surprise and face red in shock. “We should what?”

“Get married,” she repeated. “I want to be with you, you want to be with me. It would be a nice way to make things official, wouldn’t it?”

“Adora, we’re like - we’re not even 20,” Catra sputtered, her ears going flat to her head as her blush deepened. “I mean, I love you more than anything, but aren’t we - aren’t we kind of young?”

Adora could feel her own face turning pink in response as her brain finally caught up with the words that had been leaving her lips. “I - I didn’t mean now!” she stammered, desperately trying to figure out how to rephrase her thoughts. “I just meant, like, eventually, when we’re way older and after we’ve travelled around the entire universe restoring magic and… stuff…” She trailed off, and for a moment they just stared at each other, both too embarrassed to speak.

Catra was the first to break, losing herself in a fit of giggles as she leaned forward to press their foreheads together again. “Of course I’ll marry you one day, dummy. Then no one will ever doubt how much you want me.”

Adora flushed, but she couldn’t stop a happy smile from dancing on her lips. “Sorry that was such a weird proposal.”

“Everything you do is weird. I’m used to it.”

Adora laughed, pressing a light kiss to the top of her girlfriend’s nose. “Good.” Then an idea occurred. A brilliant idea, if she said so herself. Which she did. “So, until then…” She unpinned the golden wing from her belt before carefully attaching it to the left side of Catra’s shirt. “Just so everyone knows how much I love you.”

“More like how possessive you are,” Catra scoffed, though she was smiling as her hand brushed over the pin. “But I guess I’m in no place to say anything about that.”

Adora pressed a chaste kiss to her girlfriend’s lips. “You definitely are not.” She kissed her again, this time catching only the corner of her mouth. “But I love you anyways. I want you. And I’ll make sure you never forget it.”

Catra began purring happily, the deep vibration only intensifying as Adora continued to pepper her face with kisses. “If this is your way of reminding me, I don’t see how I ever could.”

Adora started to laugh, but was soon cut off by Catra’s lips crashing against her own, her girlfriend pushing her down against the rooftop.

You deserve love, too.

Adora knew she would continue to struggle with Mara’s words. She knew she would continue to have difficulty grasping how love was freely given and required no sacrifice in return. But she also knew she was getting there. One day at a time.

And the best part?

Catra would always be at her side. Every step of the way.

~*~

#catradora #spop spoilers #spop adora #spop catra #spop catradora #she ra #my writing #spop #adora #catra #fanfiction #proposal #catradora fluff #this was DELIGHTFUL to write

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trensu · 4 years

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Wangxian shera au: wwx is shera and lwj is catra. But they're approach to each other is the opposite. Lwj is the one who keeps trying to bring wwx back. And wwx wants to come back but he has to help brightmoon. So he's mean to get lwj to get to stop.

okay anon, i see what you’re trying to do here. like, i get it but i must respectfully disagree. look catradora is my otp for the show and the fact that it became canon thrilled me to bits but i’m gonna do something crazy here and make the untamed!catradora less gay (I KNOW I KNOW, BUT HEAR ME OUT). so the driving force of catradora is rooted in their shared trauma by the “mother” figure in their lives. or, okay, maybe it’s not the driving force, but that shared trauma heavily influences all their interactions.

who in our dear untamed crew has a terrible traumatic mother figure? THAT’S RIGHT, IT’S OUR BELOVED YUNMENG BROS WHO HAVE A TERRIBLE TRAUMATIC MOTHER FIGURE THAT TOTALLY INFLUENCED HOW THEY INTERACT WITH ONE ANOTHER.

idk for sure who is catra and who is adora in this scenario, but i think it would be interesting to see jiang cheng as adora and wwx as catra. it doesn’t fit exactly, but considering how much shadow weaver hates catra and how catra still feels like she owes shadow weaver some kind of debt (CATRA WANTS HER MOTHER FIGURE TO LOVE HER *SOBSOBSOB*), i think it would be fascinating to have wwx stay at madam yu’s side in the fright zone, promising to bring back jiang cheng bc jiang cheng is her heir and jiang cheng has always been destined for power that would make the world better somehow, and wwx loves his brother so much...

and also, damn it, i want jiang cheng to experience some love and happiness for once, okay? he didn’t exactly MEAN to leave the fright zone, he didn’t MEAN to leave his mother and wwx behind, but...but...the world outside the fright zone isn’t what his mother told him it was.

as to who glimmer and bow would be...idk. i kinda wanna take the crack!fic route and make glimmer xiao xingchen (c’mon, you can’t tell me it wouldn’t be hilarious to see xxc arguing with the queen, aka baoshan sanren about how UGH, MOM YOU NEVER LET ME DO ANYTHING!! I’M NOT A LITTLE KID ANYMORE MOM) which obviously means that song lan would have to be bow (it works bc song lan is the sensible, “SWORD SAFETY!!” one). and omg, we can make a-qing be princess frosta!!! jiang yanli can be perfuma!!! so jiang cheng-as-adora suddenly has all these friends who like and trust him in a way he’s never experienced before!! he doesn’t want to let any of them down, but he’s also wracked with worry about what madam yu-as-shadow weaver is doing to wwx-as-catra. They’ve faced down a couple of times by now and wwx looks worse and worse each time and jiang cheng KNOWS how madam yu hurts wwx when she’s angry, but he hasn’t been able to convince wwx to join him at bright moon.

idk where to fit the lan bros or the nie bros tbh and i have the sinking feeling that jgy would be perfect as double trouble (WHICH PAINS ME BC I LOVE DOUBLE TROUBLE, WHAT AN NB ICON). obviously wen ruohan is horde prime, but would that make the wen sibs hordak and wrong hordak?? idk idk.

i’m sorry anon, i know you wanted to wangxian up catradora, but i don’t think catradora’s dynamics quite sync up with wangxian dynamics that way. so i think a platonic catradora works better for a yunmeng bros interpretation, in this particular situation (mostly bc madam yu is a HORRIBLE PERSON that screwed up the loving relationship between the yunmeng bros just like shadow weaver did with catradora). idk how to fit wangxian into this scenario tho. if anything, the most wangxian relationship in spop is probably mermista/seahawk, which, like, is COMEDY GOLD AND I WOULD TOTALLY READ THAT FIC.

#spop #the untamed #catradora #wangxian #yunmeng bros #trensu replies #anon #i just realized that i took your angsty catradora/wangxian thoughts and turned it into crack #sorry friend!!#i think maybe i'm just not so good with angst most of the time lol #Anonymous

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clacing · 3 years

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The eye emoji is for art but I feel it fits for writing too! 👀 🥰 📝 👉

🌈 ✨ 🕵️‍♀️

First of all THAT’S SO MANY THANK YOU!!!!

the 👀 a piece where i tried something new

Gonna say be the thing that buries me here, for a few reasons! First of all, I tend to be very longwinded when writing, and rarely manage to keep myself under 10k, so trying to keep it to 2k for the zine was a really a challenge. I thought I could do it until I realized I’d made up enough lore and worldbuilding to fill an actual novel, and when I realized I’d already wasted more than half of the allotted word count just to set the story up. I had to completely change the way I usually write, and think of it less as a story followed from beginning to end and more as a snapshot of the wider story. Entire scenes I’d written out ended up being scrapped and mentioned as an aside in the final version. POVs had to be swapped and edited accordingly. It was all about figuring out how to fit the most story in as little a word count as I could, and honestly, I loved it! I had never been creatively challenged like that.

What’s more, I had the privilege of collaborating with @astrumumbrae, and that also influenced the story! I’m usually very wishy-washy when it comes to descriptions (I always joke that all my stories take place in a void), but since the piece had to be illustrated, I had to make things clear in the text - and some details we had to figure out together, going over the drawings and deciding what colors would look best on Catra, or what Catra and Adora’s weapons of choice would be. It was just really fun, and I’d never done anything like that, but it definitely improved the quality of my writing and made the whole experience for me!

🥰 a piece i’m really proud of and why

brave face talk so lightly (hide the truth). I’ve actually been thinking about it a lot lately and I kinda wish I could go back to it. Looking back on my fics I do think most of them come off too cheesy or too self-indulgent, but this one I’m honestly fond of. I’m usually also very slow and a fic like that would have taken me at least a month; I wrote it in three days, writing non-stop, and I loved every second of it. Maybe it’s because I had the outline ready for months before I started writing, so the whole sequence of events was always clear to me, but damn, writing had never felt so effortless and so satisfying. I think I’ve managed to capture exactly the feeling I was going on in not-too-many-words and I’m really glad it’s my most popular fic.

📝 a line or paragraph i’m really happy with

UHHHHH SHIT THIS IS HARD. So many. I’m gonna pick a couple that I can think of right now, and that’s only for published WIPs, otherwise we’re going to be here all day:

She looks different almost every time Adora sees her, but her software is set to recognize Catra’s soulprint in all of her incarnations and it’s already downloading everything it has on her, words quickly flashing across Adora’s vision.

Then Catra notices her staring, and Adora waves the words away. She might not remember her, but she already knows everything there is to know about her - like her previous disappointment, Catra is a constant of hers, a wrinkle in her personal timeline. Some of Catra’s code is embedded into Adora’s programming to allow for better soul recognition and improved fighting ability, a vaccine that grows more and more elaborate with every one of their interactions.

Catra smirks at her. Adora fears that, one day, Catra’s coding will override her own, and she’ll be eaten up - corrupted beyond repair.

It’s almost scary, sometimes. Adora feels with Catra the way she thinks old married couples are supposed to feel - not the newness, the freshness of discovery, but the simple, quiet comfort of knowledge already acquired, of bones being able to rest. She wonders if Catra feels the same way about her. She wonders if Catra will get tired of her, at some point, if she’ll want more from her life than Adora is able to give her.

& This is technically cheating because I wrote it in 2019 but..... it was published in 2020 so.... 😶

"Someday you will have to face it, you know. The emptiness."

"I said shut up," Catra snapped. "I'm perfectly safe, respected, with no one to tell me what to do. I have friends, a family, and a kingdom. I don't know what you think I should feel empty about."

"All that power," Double Trouble tut-tutted, almost pitifully, "all that unconditional love, self-love, familial love. And something's still missing, isn't it?"

And when she kept avoiding their gaze, wishing they could stop, just stop for one damn night, they lifted her chin up towards them with a single clawed finger. "Oh, kitten," they mumbled, "now that you finally got what you needed, I was hoping you'd figured out what it was that you wanted."

👉 a WIP i’d like to try and finish next year

Definitely how you besiege me (and feed me). That fic’s just proof of my longwindedness and slowness and I’d like it to stop haunting me 😔 But yeah I said I’d try to put out chapter 5 before the end of the year, and then only the epilogue is left.

I also really hope to finish the “estranged childhood best friends meet again” AU. It’s gonna be three chapters and I’ve had the first one ready for a while but I can’t publish another WIP before I finish HYBM.

🌈 favourite colouring

Mmmh so full disclosure, when it comes to SPOP I kinda just use the same coloring on everything and make a few adjustments ghgfhgh if it ain’t broke don’t fix it

✨ a set where i tried something new & 🕵️‍♀️ a detail i’m really proud of

Conflating the two because they’re about the same gifset. When I got the request for that one I honestly had no idea how to go about it because the quote seemed so metaphorical to me and I couldn’t figure out what scenes to use, but THEN something unlocked in me and I figured out all the metaphors at once. My favorite has to be “Catra stealing the moon for Adora” as in “allowing Glimmer to escape”.

#Anonymous

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horsechestnut · 4 years

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Listening to Jesus Christ Superstar and now all I can think about is She-Ra Au. [Disclaimer this is solely based on the musical not the Bible]

Here is my cast:

Adora is Jesus: Obviously. Hero who initially begins with only a few followers and lots of doubters but slowly grows to become seen as a god. Feels like it’s her responsibility to live up to expectations and is slowly being warn down by the constant pressure. Willingly sacrifices herself for the people of Etheria.

Catra in the Judas role: In this AU Catra left with Adora when she became She-Ra. For a long time she was Adora’s most devote follower and, more importantly, closest friend. However she has seen the toll this is all taking on Adora and how the people are starting to twist Adora’s words into something they aren’t, putting her on a pedestal she never asked for. Adora isn’t listening to her, so Catra takes it into her own hands to try and solve the problem, but she underestimates the extent Horde Prime will go to.

Bow is Mary Magdalene: Not in the romantic sense obviously (Jesus and Judas are super gay anyway), but in the musical Mary Magdalene is the one constantly trying to ease the tension between Jesus and his followers and the one encouraging Jesus to take time for himself and relax.

Glimmer is Simon: Adora’s most fierce follower. She is ready and willing to fight anyone who doubts or threatens them. She doesn’t see the danger in their growing influence, instead thinking of it as a good thing. After all think about how many more people they can reach? They could take on anyone, and she chaffs against Adora’s stern orders not to fight.

Entrapta as Peter: This one is a little less accurate, as Entrapta is never Adora’s most devote follower, but she finds herself pressured into betraying Adora. Once she realizes what she’s done she apologizes and tries desperatly to make up for her actions.

Pilot/Harold: I feel like Horde Prime is probably Harold and Hordak is probably Pilot, but I’ve gone a bit back and forth on it. Honestly neither of them fits either great, I’m open to other ideas.

#I don't know how to tag this #I know the whole point of the show is organized religion and blind devotion is bad #but to be fair Jesus Christ Superstar isn't exactly encouraging that either #she-ra and the princesses of power #spop #she-ra #adora #catra #jesus christ superstar #jesus christ superstar au #she-ra jesus au #she-ra jesus christ superstar au #au

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hobbitkiller · 4 years

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She-Ra, Supergirl, and Tangled: A Tale of Three Female Relationships: Part 2

*SPOILER WARNING FOR SHE-RA, SUPERGIRL, AND TANGLED: THE SERIES*

For those of you just tuning in, I’m taking a deep dive into 3 female relationships in 3 of my favorite tv shows that all turned into toxic messes at some point. The point of this series of posts is to exam these relationships, where things went wrong, whether there’s a chance for redemption, and what conclusions, if any, we can draw from these relationships about media’s representation of female characters and female relationships.

Oh, and shipping, ‘cause this is tumblr after all...

So, in Part 1 I gave a summary of the female relationships in question in these three shows (Adora and Catra, Kara and Lena, Rapunzel and Cassandra). I also summarized how these relationships began and when they started to go wrong. If you already know that stuff because you love these shows too, you don’t necessarily have to go back and read it, but doing so is always encouraged.

In this installment, I will be exploring 3 themes related to the festering resentment within these relationships: Mother Knows Best, Chosen Ones, and Itty Bitty Boxes. Follow the jump to get started!

PART III: MOTHER KNOWS BEST

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I’ve heard a few people claim that Mother Gothel is not a top tier Disney villain. She doesn’t have the following that characters like Scar or Maleficent have. However, at the same time, I’ve heard many people saying something along the lines of “This is my mother.” There’s something uncomfortably familiar about Mother Gothel in Tangled. I recognized the same putdowns and microaggressions that I used to get from my stepmom in Gothel’s targeted jabs at Rapunzel’s confidence throughout the movie...all done with a smile and “It’s for your own good” attitude.

A lot of media focuses on the relationship between fathers and sons. Mothers in Disney have historically been silent or dead. (Except Perdita. That bitch was awesome).

This, of course, makes it interesting that 5/6 of these characters have verbally (and in some cases physically) abusive, manipulative mother figures. And for Adora and Catra and Rapunzel and Cassandra, that mother figure is the same.

Here are our three abusive mothers:

Shadow Weaver who raised Adora and Catra:

Lillian Luthor who is Lena Luthor’s adoptive mother (and played by the absolute joy to watch that is Brenda Strong):

And, of course, Mother Gothel who kidnapped and raised Rapunzel for most of her life and is the SPOILER biological mother of Cassandra:

There are, of course, good mothers sprinkled in. Rapunzel’s biological mother, Queen Arianna is great once she actually gets lines in the TV show. Lena’s birth mother was also, by all accounts, a very kind and loving person. Kara has two moms, and while both have flaws, both are inherently good people (particularly Eliza Danvers, her adoptive mother).

However, in spite of the presence of some positive examples of motherhood, the relationships between all three of these pairs is heavily influenced by the three narcissistic women above.

All three of these women are dishonest, withhold affection only to give it away as a special treat, and actively manipulate their children. Yet, at the same time, the children can’t help but seek approval. Adora and Catra both feared and desperately sought approval and affection from Shadow Weaver. Lena tries to cut ties with her family, but keeps being drawn back in when Lillian admits pride at her accomplishments or that she does, in fact, care about her. Rapunzel sought affection from Gothel growing up because she was her one human contact, and, when Cassandra learned the truth of who her mother was, Cassandra desperately wanted some validation that the mother who abandoned her loved her on some level.

These mother/daughter relationships scarred 5/6 of our characters (Kara has her own hangups about her mother, but not on the deeply psychologically scarred level as the other five.)

Adora is mockingly called paranoid by Shadow Weaver for understandably thinking the woman who lied to and manipulated her her entire life was up to something. Catra pushes everyone in her life away emotionally for fear of being hurt (only to create a self-fulfilling prophecy when they leave due to her behavior). Lena is constantly scared of being “betrayed” and manipulated. When she’s hurt by Supergirl asking Lena’s boyfriend to snoop on her, she says it was “something my mother would do.” When she and Kara first became friends, Lena was reluctant to do so because of the trust issues from her family (Lex Luthor is obviously also a manipulative, abusive jerk). Even Rapunzel, the embodiment of sunshine, has lingering trust issues. In the Season Three episode “Beginnings” she explains to Eugene that one of the reasons she likes Cassandra is because Rapunzel spent 18 years with someone who lied to her, whereas Cassandra was forthright and said what she was thinking.

Cassandra’s mother issues are a little more complicated. When she was four, Gothel abandoned her in order to kidnap Rapunzel and Cass was adopted by the captain of the guard. Cassandra has deeply repressed this memory by the time we meet her when she’s 22/23. Then, she’s given a glimpse of what life was like with Gothel:

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Early in the series, Cass talks about how her father instilled in her the value of “earning my keep.” It’s clear here, though, that love as a transactional relationship had been instilled in Cassandra early in life: “And when it (love/affection) came, it came with strings.”

This transactional view of relationships is something shared by all 5 members of our “bad moms” squad on at least some level. Adora constantly feels the need to fix things and be useful to her friends. Catra thinks if she just wins enough or is good enough, maybe Shadow Weaver will finally love her. Lena’s approach to relationships largely revolves around buying things for them and trying to unilaterally solve their problems for them without their input. Rapunzel has to go through an entire episode to learn that you can’t buy friendship through doing nice things, and that she doesn’t have to. Cass ties her self-worth deeply to her usefulness to others. They all struggle to find internal validation at times.

The other way mothers play a part in the downfalls of these relationships is the element of competitiveness. This is an issue with Adora and Catra and Rapunzel and Cassandra. As previously stated, both of these couples share a mother figure. And, in both of these couples, there is a deep resentment on the part of the non-golden haired child toward the other. Shadow Weaver did not hide that Adora was her favorite. She frequently praised Adora while berating and abusing Catra even when both had done equally well. Even when Adora abandoned Shadow Weaver and Catra for the rebellion, SW was more concerned with getting Adora back than appreciating the loyalty and accomplishments of Catra.

Mother Gothel literally gave up Cassandra to take Rapunzel.

Both Catra and Cassandra feel completely overshadowed by the blonde in their lives, and part of them can’t help but think that, if only Adora or Rapunzel were out of the way, or had never existed, maybe they would have been chosen as the favored one.

This, of course, brings us to our next topic:

PART IV: CHOSEN ONES

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I’ve never been a big fan of Ron Weasley. I didn’t read the Harry Potter books until I was in my twenties (yes, compared to many of my readers, I’m old), and I think this lead to me being less charmed by his humor or bullying of Hermione than I otherwise might have been. I found his temper aggravating and he is just...the worst...in the sixth book. Like, he purposely starts dating someone to punish Hermione who had already asked him to Slughorn’s party because Ginny pointed out that Hermione had probably kissed the guy she was dating TWO YEARS AGO. No, seriously, read that book again. That’s what happened. Then the seventh book happens and it turns out Dumbledore KNEW Ron was going to ditch the team at some point...

That being said, as I sat down to write this novel-length meta, I found myself thinking about what it’s like to be the support team for the “chosen one.” In the seventh book, Ron could have stayed at home with his pureblood family. He would still be in some danger due to their involvement with the Order of the Phoenix, but it would have been a lot safer than traveling around with “Undesirable No 1.″ Yet, because he loves Harry, he chooses to go on this mission.

In the three pieces of media we’re discussing, 2/3 have literal chosen ones--characters with specific destinies of supernatural origin: Adora and Rapunzel. Kara also largely fits into the trope as someone sent to earth from afar to “save us.” As I somewhat jokingly said in the first part, all three of these pieces of media feature a blond super-powered person who needs to save the world.

Can you imagine what it would be like to be the best friend or “sister” of the person who’s “burdened with glorious purpose”?

On the one hand, it’s constant fear over that person’s safety and wellbeing. On the other, there’s a bit that can’t help but feel resentful. Imagine having a friend that overshadows every accomplishment you’ve ever had seemingly by virtue of just who they are.

Now, of course we know that it’s no easy road being a chosen one. There’s a lot you have to sacrifice, and it usually involves injury, near death, and a boatload of trauma. And the support teams know this. For some, it’s never an issue. But for others...

In She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Adora, to Catra, always had the presence in her life of a chosen one, even before she got the sword and became She-Ra. Shadow Weaver had sensed something powerful about Adora when she was a baby, and thus treated her as the “Golden Child” to Catra’s “Scapegoat.”

This idea of the “Golden Child (GC)” versus the “Scapegoat (SG)” rolls a bit into this issue with “chosen ones.” In toxic, narcissistic families, parents often hold up one child as the great one while the other is the one to blame for their problems. Think Olga and Helga in Hey Arnold! (Is that reference too dated for some of you guys? Man, I’m old. Also, I remember finally being old enough to realize Helga’s mom was an alcoholic and it blew my mind.) This also usually entails encouraging a level of competitiveness between the siblings.

In some ways, it’s like a “chosen one” is the whole world’s golden child. Anyone who researches this dynamic knows it’s abusive to both the GC and the SG, which is clearly displayed in She-Ra when Adora is stressed by the pressure of expectations and the knowledge that her mistakes will most likely be taken out on Catra. That doesn’t change the fact that Catra resents the positive attention (the adoration if you will) Adora gets--that, no matter what Catra achieves, it will be nothing compared to Adora. This resentment is a big part of what fuels the escalation of their personal conflict leading to one of the saddest pieces of animation since Fry’s dog died sad and alone on Futurama. In the Season 1 episode “Promise.” (This is, by far, the best episode of the series), Catra airs all of her feelings she’d been repressing about what it felt like living in Adora’s shadow--how it made her feel like a “side kick,” something Adora never consciously tried to do and is shocked to discover.

Cassandra on Tangled:The Series has similar feelings about her role in Rapunzel’s life. Not only is her best friend the one with the magic hair and great destiny, but she is also her boss and monarch. Aside from the two songs I included in my last post, “Waiting in the Wings” and “Crossing the Line,” this conflict is best demonstrated early in Season One in the episode “Challenge of the Brave.”

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Cass didn’t suffer abuse in quite the same way Catra did (though Gothel was the worst mom for her first 4 years), but she does feel disrespected and overshadowed by Rapunzel even before learning about Gothel. In “Crossing the Line”--a song many likened to “Let it Go” when they first heard it, Cassandra lays out these feelings further:

There’s a line between the winners and the losers.

There’s a line between the chosen and the rest.

And I’ve done the best I could,

but i’ve always known just where we stood.

Me here with the luckless.

You there with the blessed.

Now, when this song first came out, there were negative reactions from some fans. How could Cassandra call someone who had been kidnapped and locked in a tower with the neglectful and verbally abusive Gothel for 18 years “blessed”? But, from Cassandra’s perspective, Rapunzel still gets everything, power, respect, etc., purely because she was born a princess while Cass has worked incredibly hard her entire life to achieve one goal, becoming a guard, and is constantly denied.

With Lena and Kara in Supergirl, the resentment, again, is mostly between Lena and Supergirl for most of their relationship. Multiple times during the show’s run, Lena has expressed concern about human’s relative helplessness in the face of aliens like Supergirl who have power. This is why Lena sees some of her shadier actions such as making Kryptonite or trying to give humans super powers as justified. She doesn’t go to the extreme levels of hatred that her brother Lex does, but that distrust in those who are naturally more powerful runs throughout the family as does the resentment that aliens have seemingly usurped the leadership role among humanity that should have belonged to the Luthors.

What makes this interesting is that, in most of her relationships, Lena, as a billionaire, is the more privileged and powerful one. This is really best demonstrated in her relationship with James Olsen, whom she orders around as his boss while buying him expensive gifts and going behind his back to fix his legal problems. And for much of their relationship, this is how Lena sees her relationship with Kara. It’s not a manipulative or cruel thing. Lena just sees Kara as her adorkable reporter friend who is hapless in the face of danger.

Then, all of these preconceived notions come crashing down when Lena learns that Kara is Supergirl. Suddenly, she learns that her hapless friend was actually playing her the whole time--that she was stringing Lena along and pretending to be only human.

Lena’s resentment may not be as explicit in this case as Catra’s or Cassandra’s, but it is layered within all of the emotions Lena Luthor is pretending not to have.

This, of course, leads us to our final subject for today.

PART V: “ITTY BITTY BOXES”

I’ve mentioned a few times throughout this novel-length meta the word “repressed.” Catra, Lena, and Cassandra are not good at expressing their emotions in a healthy manner. Much of this can be blamed on the aforementioned mother figures and the trust and intimacy issues that having narcissistic, abusive parents can lead to.

Narcissistic parents often place the burden of maintaining the emotional wellbeing of the family on the children. It is your job as the child to make sure they don’t get upset. It is you who has to keep the cool head and maintain the facade of positivity. Parents like Shadow Weaver, Lillian Luther, and Mother Gothel do not see it as their responsibility to help their children regulate emotion or address it. To them, “negative emotions” are character flaws.

Of course, anyone who’s watched Inside Out knows that emotions aren’t inherently good or bad and feeling, addressing, and understanding them are vital to good mental health.

Too bad Inside Out wasn’t there for Catra, Lena, or Cassandra growing up.

Instead, each of these characters has learned to bottle up and hide emotions like sadness, fear, hurt, and true, deep anger. Lena even outlines her approach to such feelings when helping Brainy, an alien who is basically like an organic computer, solve a problem:

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I was not the only person that was reminded of this gem after that scene:

Putting emotions away in an imaginary box is a real technique for keeping yourself from becoming overwhelmed in a situation where you need to focus. However, “forgetting the box existed” is not the appropriate use of the boxes. They need to be opened, and the feelings addressed.

Catra is interesting, because in some ways she’s very vocal about her frustration and anger. Yet, that surface level frustration manifests in yelling at her friends and subordinates over their job performance or just being a general jerk. It’s not an expression of her true, deep feelings. Catra doesn’t let anyone see the deep levels of hurt she feels when Shadow Weaver manipulates her to join Adora. Instead, she just almost destroys the world...as you do. Season 4 in particular features a Catra who is more mean to her friends than ever before, yet she is still repressing so much of her true feelings to the point of mental and emotional collapse.

Cassandra also struggles to express her feelings, particularly to Rapunzel. Part of it might be because Rapunzel is her princess, and it’s not Cassandra’s place, but it’s also something she struggles with in general:

The above line occurs in an episode where Rapunzel knows Cassandra is mad at her and keeps pushing her to share her feelings. As we can see, Cass is not a big fan of that. Even though they talk at the end of the episode, it’s clear that there are still some hurt feelings on Cassandra’s side that she doesn’t express until she has electric blue hair and is singing a rock ballad about “Crossing the Line.” This is also fascinating because, as previously stated, one of the reasons Rapunzel likes Cassandra is her honesty. But, like with Catra, Cassandra can be honest about surface level annoyances, but intensely represses anything deeper.

All three of these characters let their emotions fester until they become deadly infections that poison their relationships, not just with their best friends, but with everyone. Many of these relationships could have been diverted from their dark paths if there had been more honest and open communication both between the characters and internally. If Lena acknowledged the real reasons why she was hurt when learning Kara was Supergirl, if Catra had been honest about feeling overshadowed and pitied by Adora, if Cassandra had expressed the pain she was feeling in her relationship with Rapunzel, things could have been different. Instead, those feelings have turned toxic.

NEXT TIME IN THE NEVER-ENDING ANALYSIS:

Blond Bulldozers

I Don’t Care (I ship it)

Just going to do 2, because 3 subjects were a bit much.

Hope to see you there.

#she ra #spop #adora #catradora #catra #shadow weaver #supergirl #supercorp #kara danvers #lena luthor #lillian luthor #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #rapunzel #tts cassandra #cassunzel

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nomadicism · 4 years

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Now that She Ra is over, what are your thoughts on it? What about that Catradora kiss?

Hi Anon! Thank you for the Ask!

ヽ(*⌒∇⌒*)ﾉ Where to start?

I have so many thoughts on the show, and I’ve had so many thoughts since season 1. I’ve not written much of anything about She-Ra because I keep coming back to this problem of ‘where to start,’ or how to structure my thoughts beyond a +1000 item list. I can’t even pick one or two thoughts to dive into, because they all end up connecting to everything else —> honestly, that’s the mark of a tight narrative, even the big pieces that can fully stand on their own are still leading through to another piece. I fail at every attempt to write something brief.

Section I: Short answer first.

I have a very short and subjective list of media where I not only love (for different reasons) nearly every character (main, secondary, background), but where I also feel that their individual places or moments or arcs concluded in a way that felt right from start to finish. It’s a short list of media where connections and conflict between characters never felt forced, out-of-place, out-of-context, or done for shock value. She-Ra and the Princesses of Power makes that very short and subjective list.

It’s not often that a story hits all the right notes with me, and it’s much more often that a story starts off strong like that, and then turns me off ½-⅔ of the way through. I’ve quit video games during the final boss fight because the story lost me in the lead-up and I wasn’t going to waste 10-20 minutes of my time for something that turned out to be ‘meh’. It ain’t got to be deep, or anything either.

I really loved the voice acting. Everyone is great. A post for another time.

I love the aesthetics, which I wasn’t sure of at first teasers, but won me over in less than 3 minutes of the first episode (season 1) because I love bright pastels, the character designs are fun (can I still gush over variety of body types? YES), so many opportunities to explore stylish takes on the characters, and those Moebius-inspired scenery/background designs are a special interest delight. Season 5 delivered a visual ‘end game’ for the aesthetics in many ways, Section III further down will get into that a bit.

Section II: “What about that Catradora kiss?”

I gotta preface this with, shipping is not my go-to for how I enjoy creative works. It’s not a hobby for me. Sure there’s a few I dig more than others, but I’m otherwise agnostic about ships, unless there is a really bad story-fit (and that’s usually a subjective thing), or involves tropes that are a deal-breaker for me (and those typically relate a lot to the story fit).

With that said, I’m really happy to see Catradora be pulled off so brilliantly, and I think the kiss is a bold and beautiful big deal in a way that might not be obvious when considered in a vacuum. I see it as passionate and heart-felt, but also, it’s achieving(?) a relatable outcome (for me at least) that’s hard to describe. It’s an outcome yielded by a story in which two women—a hero and a villain—are divided and fight bitterly and then reconcile through love, while fighting a purity cult whose founder-prophet-god-king forces subservience through a conversion designed to strip someone of their identity (e.g. names they’ve chosen for themselves), memories-and-motivations, and love for others.

Despite these conversions, love still remains, it can’t just be baptized or therapy-ed away. Controlling puritans and authoritarians wielding religion or peace-panaceas as a weapon have been the villains in the lives of countless women and LGBTQIA people for a very long time. So yeah, I’ve got some feels about that. The last time I felt anything similarly relatable, or as strongly, was the Utena and Anthy relationship in Revolutionary Girl Utena (and really, their kiss during the surreal sequence at the end of the film adaptation).

Section III: Thoughts on Cult Aesthetics and Clones (the rough cut)

(1) In the future scenes at the end, Adora’s white dress with gold tiara and accents have this kind of goddess-like or Pallas Athena feel to it, which is a great mirror of the design choices for the god-like Horde Prime, his Purity Space Cult, mechanics/ship, and flagship interior scenery. Not saying that was the intention, but that’s how it came across to me.

Of course, those colors would be used because She-Ra already wears white and gold with a bit of red accent, which complement how the princesses are bright and colorful (pastels and jewel tones). The bold and bright colors helps signify that Etheria is full of life. Etheria is verdant and magical, and that sets up a contrast to the Fright Zone and the darker colors found in Horde characters (Hordak, Shadow Weaver, Scorpia, Catra, Entrapta, etc).

So the first kind of contrast was with the Fright Zone standing out as a poisoned/toxic against the bright, lively colors of Etheria and the princesses. Season 5 introduces another take on that contrast as Horde Prime is the opposite, or antithesis of Etheria’s colorful life. He’s like anti-life with his shades of light-and-dark grays on white, and only glow-green as an accent. In some cultures and religious traditions, white is associated with purity, and in others it is associated with death.

When Horde Prime ‘purifies’ Hordak for the sins of individuality and emotion (emotion for others, for his own sake), Hordak is drained of the colors he chose for himself during exile. In addition to being a contrast to Horde Prime (and informed by the 80s cartoon design), Hordak’s dark blue (or blue-black) and red color palette reflects the traditional use of red as a color for evil (especially vampirism) from back when diabolism was a stand-in for ‘the Devil’ in many forms of visual media (comics, live-action, animation, etc). In place of diabolic red, Horde Prime has toxic glow-green.

I absolutely love the use of the glow-green accents. Color trends for villains and significations of evil come and go, and I’m glad to see the color green be used again, and used so well. The last time I saw that shade of glow-green used so well was in Sleeping Beauty (re: Maleficent’s magic and the orb on her staff) and as the Loc-Nar in Heavy Metal. In both films, there are connotations of evil as a poisonous and corrupting influence. Green, in the context of evil, almost always signifies poison (and sometimes envy). I also like that the glow-green color is used in ways that aren’t immediately saying ‘this is evil’, such as the green baptismal waters and flames from the purification scene, or the green amniotic protein fluid. The language of piety and trappings of the sacred can cloak a sinister purpose.

I don’t know if any of that was intentional, but Horde Prime feels like the perfect synergy of purity and death (which has additional connotations, but that’s a very personal interpretation).

(2) Horde Prime immediately gave me subtle cult vibes in his first cameo (Season 3), and the follow-through on that was perfect and exactly what I was hoping to see. The background music throughout the scenes aboard the flagship fits well (love the soundtrack), and has the quality of Ecstatic Experience without pulling directly from any specific religion. Horde Prime’s dialogue is a delightful bit of narcissism veiled with the language of piety.

A purity cult comprised of clone-brother-worshippers of the cult’s founder-prophet-god-king reinforces that narcissism and has all the fun-dark feels of shiny-techno-future-dystopias. It is also an interesting use of clones, especially in a story format that usually never has the time to really dive into the complexities of cloning. This is the sort of thing that you’d be more likely to see in a one-off episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, rather than the basis for a greater scope villain, or multi-season nemesis. (and yes, Star Trek: TNG had an interesting clone episode)

Clones in science-fiction tend to fall into just a few tropes, and I generally dislike seeing clones show up in a story because the execution nearly always feels sloppy (in small ways or big ways). I did not get that feeling from She-Ra, where, the clones occupy the “cog in the machine” trope, but it is not their existence as clones that make them that way, it is the Will of Horde Prime that does. They are simultaneously expendable and sacred in their unity. It’s a nice flip on “stronger by working together” that Adora and the others have to learn (and struggle) to do.

It seems like, despite their religious programming, the clones have a little bit of their own personalities until Horde Prime ‘inhabits’ them to exert his Will. I’m trying not to read too much into it, b/c what comes across as ‘inhabits’ to me (especially with the religious/cult context), was probably meant more literal like described in the dialogue as a hive-mind control kind of thing. The first time it happens—to post-wipe/death Hordak—felt to me like a possession scene from The Exorcist, but without the kind of horror visuals that would scare both adults and children. The quick-and-subtle amount of body contortion and sound is still gross and creepy (because it should be), but it also reminds me of Ecstatic Experience in the form of speaking in tongues, or snake handling, or being a medium for a spirit. Again, I’m not saying any of that is intentional, but that’s how I see it.

(3) Finally, there is Entrapta, Hordak, and Wrong Hordak. Clones rarely get to be ‘humanized’ through friendship or romance arcs. I can think of a dozen or more robots that get to be humanized in that way, but can’t recall any clones that have (excluding doomed clones whose friendship/romance only existed for the sake of selling the tragedy of their death). Hordak gets death, renewal, and romance in a way that worked really well, and the totality of it is unique. I was a bit surprised that they could work in another clone—and I love Wrong Hordak—who pulls triple-duty as (1) comedy; (2) relevant to moving various pieces of the story along; and (3) more humanizing of the clones, which, again rarely happens as most stories take the easy low road when it comes to clones.

For Entrapta’s part, she’s never put in the position of giving up who she is (‘weird’ by many standards) for a romance. Her passion for technology is both an amusing double entendre at times, and integral to who she is. A romance for Entrapta does not replace her passion for technology, she can have both. Dating myself but, I came up in a time where most media (for children or adults) would rob a woman of her agency or passions during the resolution of a romance arc. Maybe times have changed, but it’s still nice to see none of that nonsense happening here.

#catradora #entrapdak #spop #spop meta #spop asks #ask me anything #spop s5 spoilers

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